Originally Posted by
Non-PC Plod
Not so impressive: Fire crew.
Just what exactly was the purpose of having a fire truck present for the refuelling? It appeared to drive up, 1 guy got out and started to roll out a hose. Pause.....drive off.
What should they have done? They reacted very quickly before realising they weren't in the best position and a hose wasn't going to help. They might just have well have used the cockpit fire extinguisher for all the difference it would have made. That fire was unfightable and spreading fast, I think they realised it and pulled back to an upwind position and began work from there, it looks like foam was coming onto the fire from out of shot to the left eventually, there may well have been several of them by that stage. The fire truck that drove away was probably empty/useless with no monitor by then. They may have being protectng other aircraft out of shot. We don't know.
I wonder what the fuel was? Wide-cut gasoline? Jet fuel doesn't usually blevy and blaze like that.
What I don't find so impressive is the refueller who surely didn't turn the pump off after the fire started, I reckon that bowser was pumping fuel right into the middle of it for much of the event. Did he have pressure on even as he connected the hose? The initial fireball seems concurrent with him connecting the hose, he certainly didn't go back to the bowser to turn the flow on.