Thanks for letting me know.

I read this article on Neatorama:

Debbie Credidio’s dog Jackson is a three-year-old Newfoundland who often hung out in the family’s bathroom to keep cool.

When fire broke out in the morning at Credidio’s Farmingville house, Jackson jumped into the tub and put his nose in the drain. Firefighters Vince Egbert and Edgar Trejo pulled aside a shower curtain and found the dog “actually sucking air out of the drainpipe, which is an old-school thing that a fireman would do,” Egbert said.

Jackson had survived intense heat for 40 minutes before firefighters carried him out. The family all escaped the fire, which destroyed their home

WTF is that? It's like saying oh and if you getting into a car accient, holding down your horn will prevent the roof from caving in...it's an old cop trick. What other cool life saving shit aren't they telling us?

Well, then your breath smells like sewer gas for a few days but maybe you should send this one in to MythBusters.

barefoot serpent;396743 wrote:

Well, then your breath smells like sewer gas for a few days but maybe you should send this one in to MythBusters.

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. ...

I don't know that I buy this. Every tub I've ever worked on had a p-trap to block the methane gas from the sewer. You wouldn't get more than a few square inches of air from this side of it.

... but if you suck real hard, and drink that water from the trap, then you've got all the noxious air in the sewers, baby!

Well, either that or you would be sucking smoke in from the overflow drain, if it's a tub.

People won't do the minimal fire safety routine they do tell us about; why would firemen share obtruse tricks like that? I'm sure they'd rather concentrate on getting people to have a fire escape plan and family practices. Lots more useful.

glatt;396861 wrote:

... but if you suck real hard, and drink that water from the trap, then you've got all the noxious air in the sewers, baby!

More likely a drum trap and you won't be sucking that dry.

The newspaper also said it was a Nufie, but the dog had dreds.

dar512;396807 wrote:

I don't know that I buy this. Every tub I've ever worked on had a p-trap to block the methane gas from the sewer. You wouldn't get more than a few square inches of air from this side of it.

That's right. That's why this would never work. Not even to get to that free air from the vent pipe sticking out of the roof.

This was pretty much debunked already, but I have checked with an actual fireman I know and his verdict was "definitely bollocks".
There would be maybe one breath of air in the pipe. And with the house burning around them, do you really think firemen are going to go and lie down in the bathtub?

Flint;396910 wrote:

That's right. That's why this would never work. Not even to get to that free air from the vent pipe sticking out of the roof.

Pretty good drawing Flint. Let me add to it to show what would happen if you could make a perfect seal against the tub drain and suck like crazy.