Linear Thinking Riddle

There are four people in a house. A fireman, an athlete, an old woman, and a drunk guy. The house catches fire and before the fact is known, it is too late. All they know is that the entire house is in flames and it will collapse exactly after twelve minutes. Now they can move out of the house but for that, they will have to pass the hallway which is entirely blazing with flames. Thus to move, one must carry a fire extinguisher to keep the flames away. Seeking the burnt wooden floor, only two people can run through that hallway at one time. But for others to go, one must return back with the fire extinguisher. The fireman is trained for such tasks and can run through the hallway in a minute. The athlete can make it in a couple of minutes. The old woman can run slowly and will cover the hallway in four minutes. The drunk guy will take five minutes to run through it. If all of them can make it through the hallway in twelve minutes, all of them will be saved. When two move together, they will run at the speed of the slower ones.

How will all four of them manage to run to safety?




Similar Riddles

An inspection by the superintendent of St. Joseph School was scheduled on the next day. The class teacher Jenifer knew that he would be asking questions from her class and she would have to choose a pupil to answer. To offer a perfect impression over him, the teacher explained certain instructions to the students to maximise the chances of getting correct answer every time.

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Evil warlock dislikes dwarfs and therefore he selects four of them and buries them. The dwarfs are buried in the ground and they are in such a way that except for their heads, their body is inside the ground. The dwarfs cannot move their body and they can view only forward. They are all buried in a line, and amongst the four, one of the dwarfs is separated by a wall. All the dwarfs are in the same direction. The last dwarfs can see two heads of friends in the front and a wall. In the last second dwarf can see one head of his friend and a wall. The second dwarf can see only the wall. The dwarf can see nothing.
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What will be the answer by the dwarf and how will they answer?

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There were two grandmothers and their two granddaughters.
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