The Fire Truck

[Dingo]

This fire truck really ant ed to get to it's destination.  The benefit of Diesel engines and a snorkel I guess.

   http://www.flickr.com/photos/catalan2009/6571618471/

[Mike Mitchell]

The driver was suspended for that. Their union blamed management for not training them to avoid deep water. Duh!!

It's a volunteer organisation. What do they want for nothing.

[LawryB]

Love the "Don't Walk" sign at the beginning as well.

I wonder if the people they were going to help gave a hoot how they got there.  Give him a medal!!!!

[Mysteron347]

I've an inkling I'd prefer to know that driver was on his way rather than the official who suspended him.

No doubt Isuzu will be handing over a nice cheque for that video, too.

My father was a colonial policeman in Malaya during the emergency. They were supplied in the jungle by air-drop. He reckoned that with some pilots - regulation 10000ft, so you lived off the jungle for a week. Others had a creative interpretation, and you had a 50/50 chance. Preferred Australians, 'cause they were used to the 10000ft trees that grow all over the country....

[veebee]

As Mike said, they are a Volunteer brigade, and whilst those extra numbers are VERY handy in times of out of control bush and forest fires, it is when they do something like tthis, or go down a fire trail when told NOT to by the local permanenet brigade (who KNEW there was no way to turn around if the fire caught them.. which it did - 3 died and 5 were permanently disfigured) - or try to go in to structure fires without any breathing apparatus while the local "retained" NSWFB are there DONNING their B.A equipment... then both the civilians AND 2 "Bushies" had to be rescued, endangering the  Retained Firefighters lives.

The sad thing is, WHEN these sort of terrible accidents happen, the Volunteer  Brigades then start to go feral at the government for not training or equipping them etc... to put it plainly and simply, they acted outside thir obligatory duties in most instances and more often than not, they also deliberately go against Standing Orders/ Standard Operational Procedures.

I was there, a a Permanent FF for 23 years and a Station Commander for the last 12 years and I know that these guys CAN be very helpful, but most of the ones I met, were more concerned with getting in the shed and / or truck on a Saturday, with their bright yellow overalls on and fire up chainsaws and do backburns - going crazy with drip torches (goodness knows HOW many fires have started as a "controlled burn".)

The Driver of this vehicle was rightfully suspeneded in my opinion... what if a bit of a surge came down at that monet, or the truck - which had it's "pockets" (full of air) under water - toppled due to the weight etc not being distributed "properly" ..

Sorry for the rant, but all i saw in that clip was one guy, whose eyes were probably spinning counterclockwise with his excitement "coz he wuz drivin a fire truck", putting 3 or more OTHER firefighters in danger of losing their lives (try swimming with all that turnout gear on - doesn't work !) - not to mention the people they were supposed to be responding to assist.....


:hbang: :hbang: :hbang:

[Mike Mitchell]

Damn, I forgot about swimming in that gear!    Then there's the two blokes in the back, they look quite shocked when they realise what's happening.

[Mysteron347]

Hmm - a professional firefighter would no doubt be aware of the dangers of leaving electronic equipment operating unattended, as would an electronics technician such as well, me for instance.

It's difficult to make the call. Ignore it and you issue every copycat cowboy with a licence. Come down too hard, and you kill all initiative - everyone dives for the manual and the procedures to solve every problem. When the infallible manual fails, everyone stands around doing goldfish impressions, ready to point fingers at those who wrote the book.

Sadly, the safetymaniacs have the whip-hand. Sure, sometimes it's required but it's now simply an industry where shoulda, mighta and maybe rule. The fact that there's a recorded instance of a million-to-one shot is an excuse for a procedure, forms, signatures, training courses and examinations. Pure gold.

I'll tie this back to another thread. Western Power insists on THREE separate isolators on solar power generators to supplement the inbuilt electronic and mechanical isolators. These are 'for safety reasons' to prevent Western Power workers from electrocution should the manufacturer's inbuilt systems fail.

I lost five hours' crunching on Tuesday. Western Power was replacing a power pole.

Despite the three extra isolators on which Western Power insists because it has the power to make regulations, they used none of them and relied totally on the electronic isolator. They didn't send around a crew to mechanically isolate the devices...so much for 'safety requirements.'