All the narration means is that he wrote in the journal, not that he lives at the end.
Remember, Kalani had a narration too. A good chunk of chapter 27, after he was dead.
Honestly, the simplest explanation for Burt's drill is he started to drill with the clutch engaged, he pauses, moves it to the "drill" setting, and drills out the lock.
I do that all the time when going from one part of a project to another using the same drill.
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