I noticed that the windshield wipers and the siren were less effective on this fire engine while it was driving through flood waters near Melbourne, Australia on Christmas Day 2011. The apparatus must have a snorkel-type air intake that remained above the water, but I was not able to see one.
My first reaction was to recall what I was taught 37 years ago by one of my first fire captains. Don’t become part of the problem. Our first priority as first responders is personal safety. This appeared to me to me to be unsafe. However after looking at the entire clip and realizing this was down under involving a completely different type of fire apparatus it occurred to me that maybe they do things bit different down under. In any event it was fun to watch.
It was cool to see the driver open up his door to let the water out as they drove away. Love those folks down under.
Man, you gotta love those Aussies. You know the driver said to his officer ” Bloody hell mate, I cant believe that worked! What a ripper!”
And the firefighters on the back were probably wondering how difficult it was going to be if they had to tread water while wearing boots and turnout gear.
Never seen anything like that before!