I took these photos a few days ago in the nearby village of Nebušice. The local fire station had pulled their vintage Czech-made Tatra firetruck out into the street.
I'm not sure when this truck dates from. Someone out there probably knows better than I do. I'd guess the early '70s.
You can't see it very well, but there's a smallish water nozzle stuck on a swivel in the back that a firefighter would man, sort of like a machine gun.
This is a very cool vehicle, certainly. And they obviously take good care of it.
But I must admit, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence if this is the only equipment the village has at its disposal with which to fight fires.
I've been to a few events in Czech villages that involve firefighting stuff.
ReplyDeleteOne was a competition to see how fast each team could set up their equipment and hit a target with water some 100 meters away. I've always heard that the reason each village has a pond is for water to fight fires. I didn't know how they got the water out of the pond until I saw this competition.
Each team has a large pump on a skid. It looks like a v-8 that's been souped-up and polished to look nice. At the starting gun 2 guys run to attach a hose that looks about 30cm diameter and has a large horn shaped nozzle at the sucking end. One guy literally jumps into the water with the nozzle to suck the water for the fire-hoses. The rest of the crew is attaching the hoses and running the 100 meters to the target. It usually takes about 20 seconds. I have good video. I should put it on Youtube.
Another show that I went to they had a fire truck similar to the one you have in the photo except with two of the water cannons on the roof. Small children including mine were allowed up there unsupervised to use these high powered things.
I wouldn't worry about them getting a fire out if I were you. How far are you from the village pond?
This is the Eugene guy again. Still no account.
Wow. That's fascinating! Thanks for posting. And you should definitely post that video to YouTube. As for the pond, we are definitely too far from the nearest pond for any hose to stretch. But I do believe we have a couple of hydrants close by. Whew!
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