Crash Truck Dash Cam: AA 383 Fire at O’Hare (Fire Trucks Nearly Collide)

Every video of the response to the uncontained engine failure of a Boeing 767 (American Airlines Flight #383) on departure from O’Hare International Airport contains a wealth of information about the incident and the fire department’s response to it. While the overall theme can be appropriately summarized with “job well done” there are certainly lessons to be learned. (And they have been.)

It’s not often that an unscripted video contains sound effects that adequately convey a sense of what’s going on, but the scene beginning around 3:25 in this particular video sure as hell does. (Watch your speakers.)

One thing which is particularly noticeable in this video is the effect of wind on firefighting operations. Even flowing well over 1,000 GPM with enough force to throw a straight stream over 200 feet, the wind has no trouble interfering with foam/water/Purple-K application. (The Purple-K flow is quite evident in this video, and even more visible in an upcoming video. It’s pretty neat, it's expensive, and it's also the source of an amusing story about this response - to come.)

Shortly, this channel will be posting additional videos of the response to AA 383. They will include views from other crash rigs along with new and interesting information about the incident itself. (Hey, you didn’t know about the near-crash, right?)

One light-hearted teaser: The AA 383 fire occurred the day prior to one firefighters scheduled retirement. As of that morning he had not been on shift for the response to an aircraft fire. Ever. (Yes, an airport firefighter. Planes are safe.)

There isn’t much that an ARFF firefighter enjoys more than playing with their toys - and they rarely get to flow foam during training - so it’s perfectly understandable that you can hear that very firefighter happily saying “I got my fire!” on the ride back to the station for a tank refill.

Coming up soon.

*Audio has been edited to significantly reduce the nonstop PASS alarm which sounds throughout this video. (Interestingly absent in other videos, although they had their own squeaks which required serious noise reduction.)

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