Factual error: During the Christmas season (December) Travolta and Phoenix discuss a transfer to an aide's position. That same night Phoenix discusses the possibility with his wife - with crickets chirping away in the background. Not in Baltimore in December.
Ladder 49 (2004)
Plot summary
Directed by: Jay Russell
Starring: John Travolta, Joaquin Phoenix, Robert Patrick, Jacinda Barrett
The beginning of the movie starts out with a big warehouse fire. Jack get stuck in the fire saving his friends. The whole movie after that consists of Jack remember his life after joining the fire department which includes getting married and having a child. After he remember his past, he dies in the fire.
More mistakes in Ladder 49
Lenny Richter: I'm getting too old for this shit.
Trivia: In the original script the movie was supposed to be set in New York City, but after the September 11 attacks the location was moved to Baltimore.
Question: When Jack went searching for the girl in the top apartment of the building he could hardly see because of the fog. As soon as the fire from beneath bursts through the floor the thick smoke has disappeared. Is this normal for building fires?
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Answer: I'm not a fire fighter so I do not have a answer based on experience but I assume that when Jack was disoriented it's because there was no light in the building, then when the fire broke through it produced enough light to break through the smoke and make seeing easier for him to escape.
It actually doesn't break through the floor...it's a flashover where everything including the gases in the smoke reach their ignition temperature simultaneously and the room lights off...it's a very serious and dangerous situation to be in as a firefighter...I was in one, luckily we were only 10 feet inside the door.
Steve Kozak