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This is an aircraft fire.
These things can burn at up to 3,500 degrees.
To tackle one of these
you need something a bit bigger
than a normal fire truck.
I've driven just about every high-powered vehicle there is.
But that was just for fun.
The world's biggest, baddest vehicles are made to work.
So, now, I've decided to travel across the United States
to see if I can conquer the monsters of the worksite.
I'll have just three days to learn
how to handle these complex and dangerous machines
that normally take years of training to master.
And in the end, we'll find out if I'm good enough to get the job done.
This is the Striker.
The most powerful fire engine in the world.
It weighs the best part of 60 tons
when fully laden with 4,500 gallons of water.
It can do 75 miles an hour.
All eight wheels are driven.
It can go on road, it can go off road.
It has two water cannons
that can fire up to 1,200 gallons a minute.
But perhaps the most incredible thing of all about this machine
is it's been designed and built so that it could be operated by just one person.
My challenge?
I have three days here at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport
Fire Training and Research school
to learn not just how to drive this thing
but how to use the firefighting equipment on board.
And there will be a test at the end of those three days.
I have to prove that I can respond to an emergency call,
drive it to an incident and use it to extinguish a burning airplane.
All by myself. Wish me luck.
-Hi, Lewis? -Yes, sir.
-Hi, I'm Richard. -Hey.
-Can I come in? -Come on in.
-Right. You're the driver? -I'm driving. Yes, sir.
This thing is awesome. It is a beast on wheels.
When they told me I was gonna have to train somebody to drive this truck
who wasn't a firefighter, who wanted to do it in like three days,
I was like, "Are you out of your mind?"
There's a lot of stuff here. A lot of controls. What is everything?
On the left side panel is just kind of your truck operation. Where you start it up.
Then I come over to my firefighting systems
and flip the water switch on which turns the fire pumps on,
which divides the power between the engine and the fire pump.
So you got driving the actual machine and actually just controlling
the weight of the bulk of this thing which is a specialized process.
-Yes. -Communications, firefighting in here.
There's a lot of buttons and stuff.
These buttons do everything.
You've got about 40 buttons that do specific functions for firefighting
and he was looking sort of like, "Whoa, this is not just like driving a big tractor.
"This is like really firefighting. I'm gonna be a fireman for a day."
We've got to get you ready. You're gonna feel some power.
We're gonna test the speed of it to show you just how it picks up.
-It's in gear. -It kicks in gear.
It's in gear, by the way. Just so you know.
-Really? -Yeah, yeah. It's gone in.
And that's the tour.
60 tons of vehicle just went... When it went into gear.
This is the beast of four-wheel drive.
This is an eight-wheel drive vehicle with 950 horsepower.
HAMMOND: Damn, this thing accelerates. Whoa!
It's hard to describe, but when you're on board,
just from the passenger's seat I'm aware of the mass,
the weight of this thing but when it springs away like that
that takes your breath away.
It's like being in a big building and it's suddenly moving.
Yes.
I mean, if you've got it wrong in this machine,
you could get it, like, really wrong.
So if you're not managing your vehicle or watching your speed
and watching your center of gravity,
you could actually lose control of the vehicle.
HAMMOND: That's a lovely thought.
The Striker is over 45 feet long.
Longer than a four-story building is tall.
And it weighs more than 60 tons.
That's 11 Chevy Suburbans.
Oh, and by the way, I've got to learn how to drive it off road as well.
HAMMOND: Oh, this is amazing. This really...
Again, what I'm getting a sense of is incredible
-mass and bulk. -Yes.
But it's acting like a ballet dancer. It's just in control of itself.
As soon as its wheels leave the pavement
I get the sense that the Striker is really built for off-road.
In fact, it feels like a military all-terrain vehicle,
which isn't really surprising
considering it shares its eight-wheel drive and tact for independent suspension
with combat vehicles like the US Army's HEMTT personnel carrier.
It's working in unison together like a dancer, I mean, that's a good example.
Like, an NFL lineman or line backer learning ballet.
To learn how to use its body and get the most out of the strength.
-It's really comfortable. -(LAUGHS)
That's not the idea.
That's not what it's for, I know that. But...
And again, just this little divot here.
This just dropped 60 tons into a hole and held it together.
-LEWIS: And all wheels work together. -That is amazing.
Can we go round again? Take us round again.
-One more time. -Take us round again.
I don't know why I was even remotely surprised
when the guys told me what I've got to do next.
'Cause it's kind of obvious when you think about it, really.
Before I can learn to put out a fire using the Striker,
I've got to learn to do it the old-fashioned way with a hose.
Basic firefighting techniques.
Hence this. It's okay 'cause I know I look good. Yeah.
I'm hot, really hot. One degree hotter and there'll be chafing.
And it won't be nice. You never chafe anywhere nice, do you?
Hello.
-Welcome. -Thank you.
What do I do now?
We get to show you the other part of firefighting.
This is, uh, one of the toughest things you can do.
You're going to actually charge a line and then advance it,
which is a lot of work.
Charge means fill with water and advance means I'm moving with the hose?
-Yes. -I'm a big man.
You listen to me and learn how to dance with me,
this thing will be really smooth.
Lewis, I'm dressed for dancing.
With your discotheque.
Yeah, hot disco. No, we look good.
-Give me some water. -JENN: Water's coming.
-Water. Stand clear. -Ah!
HAMMOND: Here it comes.
Oh, these things are alive.
LEWIS: Stand right here and what we'll do is explain this to you.
The first thing you're going to do is you're going to grab your nozzle.
You want to get this as much under your arm as you can.
Yeah. Your arms are a lot bigger than my arms, Lewis.
(LAUGHING)
So you grab your handle here.
You're gonna open it slowly.
Slowly.
And you'll feel the pressure.
Why do I get the distinct impression
that you're making something very difficult look easy.
I'm gonna teach you how to do that.
So, look at my stance.
Watch what happens when he works with me.
We're gonna go left first. Go to the left. Then to the right.
He's working behind me. It's really easy. He's doing most of the work.
So he's holding the natural urge of the thing to push back.
Yeah, I tell him to step to the left. Step.
You start moving your line forward.
Step.
Just be light on your feet, and then I'll be working behind you.
Now it's your turn.
-Side there. -HAMMOND: I'm scared.
Yeah, there we go.
You feel that kick?
Oh, there it is. There it is!
(HAMMOND LAUGHING)
I know real firefighters don't squeak as much as this
when they're doing it, but it's fierce!
When he first opened it he felt the power and the pressure push against him.
I had to teach him, "Don't go natural.
"If you fight against it, it's like riding a bull.
"But if you flow with it, it's like dancing."
Step.
Yeah, I can feel him pushing it. That's fantastic.
So we go left and we go right.
And I go center and we go step.
Yeah, cutting.
What's the difference between doing this now
and doing this in front of a real fire?
When the fire's there everything changes.
It's really easy to look at it
and be mesmerized and forget what you're doing here.
So you get mesmerized by the fire?
It's easy to do it.
So when the fire's there,
you're trying to remain calm, level-headed and do a job, respond to training.
-Yes. -Whereas at a human level, two things are happening.
Part of you is thinking, "Ah, run away."
And part of you is just thinking, "Look at the pretty fire."
I can look at that forever. No, that's just... I went to camp fires for ages.
And that's nice. Part of you just thinks, "Oh, I wanna get out of here."
But it's actually cut all of that,
somehow hunker down and concentrate.
-Yes. -Okay.
So, we're done with this part.
-Really? -Let's go work on the pad.
-So how do you feel? -Terrified.
Anxiety for Richard is natural.
When we train firefighters they're anxious,
and we train them not to be afraid.
We give months and years of training to them not to be afraid.
Will we have any communication with each other?
Just yelling.
That's basic, isn't it? That's analog, there.
This means, "Help, get me out."
I'm suddenly quite nervous and I wasn't.
HAMMOND: This will be my first real test
to see if I can actually hold my weight as a member of Lewis' team.
If I am ever going to prove myself worthy of the title "Firefighter,"
I need to step up and actually fight a fire.
(LAUGHING)
HAMMOND: Okay. Oh, there's some fire.
There is fire. Come on, hose it down. Right!
Assume the position. Oh, that's hot! Okay. Get ready for...
LEWIS: Same step forward. Step. Step!
One, two.
And three. One step forward.
(HAMMOND SPEAKING)
LEWIS: Hey, change the pattern.
(LEWIS SPEAKING)
I told him, "Step, we're dancing, step."
We start talking and the more we talked, the better he got.
He actually went into the fire and extinguished it himself.
Left.
-To the right. -HAMMOND: This is gonna work or not?
LEWIS: To the left.
HAMMOND: Not even sure what it is I can do.
But I'm almost there. If I can get it... Whoa!
-HAMMOND: That was hot. -LEWIS: Yeah!
-LEWIS: Good job! -HAMMOND: Thank you!
Thanks for seeing me... Thank you. Well done, sir.
Thing is in my job I've done some stuff, some weird things.
I've driven at 320 miles an hour in a rocket-propelled car,
I've driven helicopters, jet fighters, Uris, the lot.
And I've had some buzzes, but that felt terrifying.
At an absolutely primal level. Really wonderful.
Your brain is telling you two things,
there's fire, a lot of it, and there's other people around.
And that throws up a whole lot of other...
I don't want to do the wrong thing. I don't want to let them down.
I need to do the right... Are they going to help me?
It was... I can feel why you lot are locked together as a team.
Thank you for a really unique experience.
-I'm really hot. -(ALL LAUGHING)
I'll just go in in my trunks next time.
I don't just want to shower now, it's a medical necessity.
Seriously.
HAMMOND: I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now.
I've just helped Lewis and his team put out an aircraft fire,
and I'm one step closer to my goal
of qualifying to call myself a firefighter.
So I think I deserve this slow-mo hero shot.
Enjoy it. I am.
I'm here at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport,
where I've set myself the challenge of learning
how to operate the world's most powerful fire truck, the Striker.
I have just three days to train before I face my final exam,
where I'll have to extinguish a raging aircraft fire all by myself.
If I can, then I will earn the right to call myself a firefighter.
Now, before I can drive the Striker,
I've been told I must pass
the basic physical ability test
that all firefighters must pass
to prove they can do the job.
Hence, the heroic getup.
To be honest, I wasn't that worried.
I know it involves that tower and that's okay,
but then they turned up with this.
And what makes it worse is they've rolled it in really close.
So, obviously whatever happens
they're anticipating they need to be with me quickly.
Confidence is waning a bit right now.
-Hey, guys. -Hey, good morning, Richard.
Mike, you're Assistant Fire Chief around here, so you're the boss.
What are we gonna do?
Well, today what we're gonna do
is we're going to put you through the physical agility test.
Right. I just... Physical agility?
You see the thing is, the Striker's
got power steering, and assisted brakes.
It's not that physical a thing.
I don't have to be strong to drive it.
Oh, no, absolutely, but in order to get to the position to be the driver
you have to be able to get through being a firefighter first.
Right. So that's what we're doing today?
That's what we're gonna do today.
Actually, we're gonna have Jenn Viggers, one of our firefighters here.
She's gonna demonstrate the course.
And then you're going to challenge her time on the course.
Right, so this is you and me, head to head.
-You got it. -Don't be intimidated.
-I'll go easy. -Okay, thanks.
-Are you ready? -I'm not worried.
Is Jenn really good at this?
Jenn is actually just a very good firefighter.
I think that she'll do fine.
I think she's a good representation of what we do.
So, Jenn, are you ready?
-Yup. -All right, go.
Go. She's off.
What? She's got to pick that up... That looks heavy.
Straight away I'm thinking...
Just a couple of sections of hose. She's gonna drop it.
This next event she's gonna do...
This is obviously just a strength move.
She's gonna hand over hand this rope.
She's gonna take it up over the rail, set it on the ground.
So this is all about the kind of general physical ability,
physicality that you need as a firefighter?
Yes, this is all about the physical strength aspect of this. And she's...
HAMMOND: She's off again. Where's she going now?
MIKE: She's gonna go back, she's gonna pick up the hose
and she's gonna come back down the stairs again.
Come over to where the gear is and she's gonna put her bunker gear on.
This is one of our requirements that we have, that we have two minutes
to come out, put the gear on...
HAMMOND: So this is before you go to work, you're putting this on.
MIKE: Right, absolutely.
It's not the best day for that, is it?
-Oh, it's... -It's quite warm.
Another hot 100 degree day here.
And, again, she's doing... And she throws it over the head.
That's just showing off.
She'll snap it up.
HAMMOND: I thought when I did this it's gonna look pretty much the same.
-It should look identical. -Yeah.
And then she's gonna come over to the sled here.
And what she's gonna do again...
This is another test of a little bit of strength.
And this is about momentum. She's gonna knock this pad back.
HAMMOND: She's gonna ruin it!
Very good.
-Well done. -Well done. That was good.
-Good job. -Thanks.
Hey, your time. 3:16.
-Is that good? Is that okay? -That's a good time.
I think you're gonna be challenged a little bit on that.
You're barely out of breath. This is ridiculous.
Okay, fine, I'm ready.
-MIKE: Are you ready to go? -Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Any questions? -Many.
Many questions. But I'm just gonna start.
Right. Don't start yet, I'm not ready yet.
HAMMOND: Well, I'm up, and it's important to remember that
if I don't finish this course in under the maximum course time of six minutes
I will not be allowed to drive the Striker.
It should also be noted that it's 110 bloody degrees here in Dallas.
So I'm either gonna qualify to drive the Striker
or die of heat exhaustion trying,
which is a distinct possibility.
Look at those guys waiting like vultures. Look.
They're just waiting for me to have a heart attack.
-MIKE: All right, ready? -No. Yeah.
Go.
Oh, God, that's heavy. That's very heavy.
(LAUGHING)
(GROANS) Right.
Heavy. Heavy.
JENN: First time on stairs, huh?
I think you're safe. Already, I think I can say that.
Oh, high. I'm high up.
I'm high up now.
There you go, just hand over hand.
It's heavy.
It's really heavy. Now what?
MIKE: Lift it over the rail. This was an easy part for Jenn.
-Then put it back, yeah? -Yes.
And then again, hand over hand.
You cannot drop it all the way down.
-Do not drop it. Righto. -JENN: There you go.
Got my foot caught in the rope.
-That's a bad thing, isn't it? -MIKE: There you go.
Now back to the hose.
Over the shoulder and back down the stairs.
HAMMOND: Heavy, heavy, heavy.
Rescuing the hose. Saving the hose.
-MIKE: All right, drop it. -HAMMOND: You're saved.
All right, now come and do the gear.
Hood on first.
-Is that the hood? -Yeah. There you go.
No, that's backwards. Don't have my hood on.
It's on. And I just step in, yeah?
Oh, nice!
What, thank you for that. Nice.
Yeah. Ah!
He got a little taste of what firehouse pranks are all about.
You can blame me for it, but I didn't do it.
And I'm sticking to that.
It's really unpleasant.
(ALL LAUGHING)
JENN: That's all the shower you get today.
It's deeply unpleasant.
Oh, it's all really lovely and wet. There.
JENN: All right. Got your pack?
-This? -MIKE: That's called an air pack.
-This way up? -JENN: Yeah.
MIKE: There you go.
(AIR HISSING)
Is that a bad thing I've done there?
It is. Okay.
MIKE: A little troubleshooting has to take place but we're good.
Very good.
Okay. Oh, slippery.
No. You're gonna strike it... Strike it about mid-range.
(HAMMOND SPEAKING)
Really hurt my handle.
He's got kids already, so that's a good thing.
-Yes. -There you go.
-Done. -Done. Done!
JENN: Nice job.
What was my time?
5:45.
Yeah!
He gave his best effort.
And his effort was just enough.
He didn't challenge me, of course. Yeah, he did okay.
And one thing I want to remind you though,
you know that this is a very abbreviated course
of what you really would have to go through.
Is it?
There's a half-mile run and about three other things
that we skip just to make this more acceptable for you.
You let me do the hard bits, right?
No, I think we pretty much limited it
to just things we thought you could do.
Okay. Can I drive the Striker now?
Come on. Come on. Let me drive the truck!
All right, I think we're gonna let you drive.
There you go. It's been worth it.
Can anybody help me out of this stuff?
All right, let's just help you out of here.
This can only go well. All right, wish me luck.
It made me a little nervous, since I had to spend six months training to drive it
and he was gonna do it the first day.
I can stand up in the cab. I like that.
I'm a big man, I need some room.
You know, get in and out. Right, I'm in.
Seat belts?
Okay, belt on.
LEWIS: I was a little scared because I didn't know what he's capable of.
I mean, we've had contractors run over fences and things
and new employees have, you know, kind of damaged trucks here and there
because they don't understand
the sheer mass of this vehicle and what it can do.
You see this sign to the right there that's mangled?
HAMMOND: No.
We had a class and someone came through the gate
and they were going to the left and made a hard left.
HAMMOND: That sign's not there anymore, is it?
Remember I told you, you overcompensate...
Lewis, stop scaring me.
We're gonna go out this gate and go to the left on the emergency road,
and you're gonna show me that you can man this beast.
Yeah.
This thing just feels at all times ready to leap away.
It's so willing and ready.
LEWIS: Okay, now left.
There, it's that surge, that mid-surge.
From literally 750 RPM. I mean, it's just nowhere and then...
(IMITATES ENGINE ROAR)
We're taught to drive in the center on these roads
'cause these trucks are so heavy
they will actually destroy the edges of the road if you drive them normally.
So you're a natural on this. You're driving right down the center.
I'll be honest, I'm driving down the center
because I figured that way I won't fall off it.
That wasn't because I was worried about wearing the road out.
See you.
LEWIS: We're tracking down the emergency road
but we're right behind a plane,
and that's exactly what you'd be doing if you had an aircraft emergency.
The acceleration is very important.
We're gonna make a right up here and enter the course.
Yeah.
HAMMOND: Oh! Oh!
I am holding down on the brake.
Can I hold out on the gears or do you just...
Are the brakes up to the job and let them do it.
LEWIS: Well, what you want to do is you wanna take advantage
of your terrain so if it's downhill
let the gravity do the work and then use acceleration uphill.
It'll start talking to you if you get too much...
When you say talking you mean shouting?
Yeah, shouting. It'll make ugly vulgar noises.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Ah! Kids, if you're watching... Yeah, this is exciting.
LEWIS: Don't do this at home! Don't do this at home!
HAMMOND: Who's got one of these at home?
He's picking things up pretty quick.
So, I'm pretty amazed by day one
because I'm thinking, "Okay, this is going better than I expected,
"but there's a lot to learn."
HAMMOND: It's day two of my training and operating the Striker.
So far I've used handheld attack lines, hoses.
Today, I get to grips with the big one. The water cannons.
Mastering the water cannon is an absolute must
if I'm going to pass my final exam
and qualify to call myself a firefighter.
This is a standard issue fire hose.
These guys call it an attack line.
It puts out water at a rate of 125 gallons a minute.
Pretty powerful. Takes some hanging on to.
But the Striker's water cannon puts out water at 1,200 gallons a minute.
Now, those are amazing numbers.
But they are just numbers.
To get your head around what they really mean,
we need a visual, graphic demonstration of the difference in power.
And I've got one.
Here it is.
It's my own version of the classic carnival game,
shoot the water into the clown's mouth to inflate the balloon until it bursts.
To show how it works.
Rob, if you'd like to shoot water into the clown's mouth. Hit the target.
Now, as he hits the target, the more he pushes it,
the more helium is released into the balloon.
If you'd like to stop now, 'cause I've just realized
I've given you quite a head start there.
The harder you hit the target the more helium is released into the balloon.
So the most powerful source of water wins.
It is... Well, frankly, brilliant. And I thought of it.
Okay. Well, I think we're about ready to do this.
-I am. Are you? -ROB: Absolutely.
Good. How long you been running hoses?
I've been a firefighter for almost 10 years now.
-Have you ever done this before? -This will be my first time.
Good. Good. Okay. Right. Well, this is our graphic illustration
of the difference in power between the attack line, as you call it,
and the Striker's water cannon.
Right, are we ready? Do you wanna get ready?
Absolutely.
-Is this gonna blow you backwards, or... -No, no, I'm good.
Strapping man like you... I'd be over there.
Okay, we're ready. You ready, Jenn?
Ready? Good, okay. If we're ready...
Let's go.
Rob, Rob, Rob, it's all right.
It's all right, kill it.
Man, it's okay. Don't worry.
Yeah, that all went wrong.
I... Clearly, it didn't...
It's really powerful, isn't it powerful?
-What are you going to do? -Isn't it powerful?
-It is incredible. -(LAUGHS)
I have to give him credit for the clown targets, they were very unique,
nothing that we'd ever seen or used before.
HAMMOND: In retrospect our clown never had a chance.
The four-inch nozzle of the Striker shoots out
160 pounds of water per second
at a speed of almost 55 miles an hour.
With that much force at close range
the Striker's water cannon can tear the pavement from a road,
break through the wall of a house or kill a man.
Or a clown.
The whole point of mounting a water cannon on a superfast truck
is that you can use the thing on the move.
That way, the water can arrive at the fire technically before you do.
But that's gonna raise its own particular challenges.
It's gonna need practice, so they've set up this test for me.
I have to drive past in the truck
and use the water cannon
to knock these balls off the top of these cones,
ideally without knocking the cones over.
So, that's an immensely powerful water cannon.
Tiny little cones and tiny targets.
Basically it's a drive by with the world's biggest water pistol.
Piece of cake.
Using the water cannon is something to which I suspect there is something of a knack,
and firefighter Jenn Viggers is going to teach me how to do it.
-Right. -This looks really hard, take me through it.
This is our main turret, the bumper turret.
Um, you have... I'm sure you're familiar with the joystick.
-What do you mean by that? -Well, you can adjust it however you want.
There's two ways to get water out,
you can either pull the trigger, just like a gun
or hit discharge on, so that'll stay on
-until you actually hit the button to turn it off. -Oh, I see.
And just let it go.
So that is 1,200 gallons a minute and it reaches 240 feet.
-HAMMOND: Whoa! -So, we have five cones lined up with balls on top of them.
I will hit the first one for you, show you how to do it.
-And then you can do the rest. -Right.
Okay, go on. It says the ball's going to come off, the cone's gotta stay up.
-Right. That's the idea. -All right then, fire away. Go on then, your own time.
It's not something you can probably hit directly.
When you're shooting the water is in the way,
so it's kinda difficult to see if you're hitting your target or not.
So, it helps to do a little from the side.
That way you can see.
-Yeah, it's gone. All right then. -(LAUGHS)
Make it look easy, thank you.
I'm so confident, you wouldn't believe it.
Really.
Okay.
Okay, water pump going on.
(GRUNTING)
-Yeah. Right and here we go. -There you go.
-Oh. -Let go.
-Take your time. -Yeah, I'm not going to panic.
No, no, no! Come on!
JENN: Oh, oh, oh. (LAUGHS)
HAMMOND: Okay, hang on.
What I would do customarily in this sort of situation is turn it off and run away.
Running away. Running away.
And no one's going to stop me. I'm in 60 tons of fire truck, I'll be fine.
Run away for shame.
Right, so Jenn has given a perfect demonstration of how an expert
can wield the Striker's water cannon with precision.
And I've given a perfect demonstration of how
a hapless buffoon might wield it.
So that's done. I think now I shall try to pass the test for real.
Oh, that was... Jenn, can I try again, please?
Please give me the go. Please give me the go.
-You think you can do it better? -Yeah, I... (STUTTERS)
I was distracted. I had something in my eye here.
-Quite bad. -Okay.
So, oh, I'm not gonna do... I'm gonna do with this.
JENN: Really close.
Oh, there you go. Oh!
JENN: They're just falling off now, what is that?
Yes! Come on! That was good.
I'm going with the wind helped him out a lot.
And I think it was beginner's luck.
Uh, 'cause he hit that first cone and the next two just fell over.
Just say, "well done".
I think the last cone got scared of that water
coming at it and it just jumped off.
Just say I did... I did all right.
You did all right. I will... You did.
And it wasn't wind.
-And you... The cones... -Yeah.
The balls got off the cones.
-However it happened. All right, fair enough. -However.
(SIGHS)
Well, at least we're on time. Oh, well.
Day three for me in Dallas, where I've set myself the challenge
of learning to operate the world's most powerful fire truck,
the Striker.
And if after just three days of training I can successfully use it
to put out an aircraft fire all by myself,
I'll earn the right to call myself a firefighter.
What they've lined up for me now is
like a last test before the final exam.
This is the last chance to pull together
all the skills I've acquired so far.
Here's what's going to happen. I set off in the Striker,
sweep around there, stop, use the water cannon
to push one of those barrels, just one, across that line.
Push, it mustn't fall over, so, it's about precision.
I set off again, then I go around the slalom,
run that through the cones all the way round the back.
Sweep round here, on top of that airplane. Three cones.
Using the water cannon to knock them off again.
Precision stuff, just pick them off. Then I stop here.
Now, there's something I haven't mentioned yet. This is critical.
The very first thing to happen just as I set off is
the guys would have, well, set fire to that minivan.
Yeah, you guessed it.
It's all about, can I get around the obstacle course quickly enough
to save the minivan from burning to the ground.
If you think about it, it's kind of a win-win
'cause, well, if I do well and I'm quick,
I'll park up, put the minivan fire out, the minivan's saved.
Hooray!
If I do badly and it takes a long time, the minivan is destroyed.
Hooray! Everybody's happy.
Right. Let's do it.
Richard's thing with minivans, I can't explain it and I don't know what it's about.
HAMMOND: Right, well in that case, we're ready to go.
Let's have the handbrake off.
Let's have it in gear. And let's have water on.
-Ready to go. Right, I'm ready to go, aren't I? So. -All right, so this is on?
-Are you ready? -Yeah, I'm ready to go.
Light it off.
Oh, yeah, you got to light the fire.
Oh, it's lit. Okay, the fire has begun.
-All right. -I'm needed now
in my capacity as a firefighter.
-LEWIS: You're a firefighter. Start low. Aim low. -Start low. Okay.
Let's stop the truck.
Oh, that's higher than I expected. That's gone. That's gone.
Slide it, slide it... Hold it. Hold it. Hold it together what you got.
Raise it. Raise it. You're doing great, keep it up.
-Just a hair. Raise it just a hair. -I moved it off target.
HAMMOND: All right. Let it down. Let it down.
It's as far down as it can go.
-Push it. Push it. Push it. Push it. Push it. Push it. -Come on, come on. Move!
-LEWIS: You're there. -HAMMOND: Am I there?
LEWIS: Yes, you're there. That's it.
HAMMOND: Right. We can go. Let's move.
So that stops the water, we'll leave that where it is.
And have this in drive and we can... Oh, and water off.
-I'm not panicking. -Serpentine. Serpentine.
-So now we're going around this pole, this one here. -So, we got...
-Yes. -So that's a big wide swing.
I still get carried away with speed here.
He's having to do a lot of tasks at one time.
He has to watch where the truck is.
He's running over cones. He's got to watch running into the fire pit.
HAMMOND: I'm feeling the pressure. How's the fire going, Lewis?
-The fire's starting to build. Starting to build. -Yeah, but it will.
-Get into the serpentine. -Yup, serpent.
On the first cone, the right mirror.
Yeah, I've got it. Oh, that was close. (LAUGHS)
That was close. Whoa!
-Inches away. -LEWIS: Oh, man, that's good.
-HAMMOND: Ooh! Just missing that one. -That's right. Found that...
Found it in that rear mirror and serpentine nicely.
-Missing it. Okay. -LEWIS: Yes.
Find him in the right mirror and you're looking good.
-Okay now, let's get it... Let's turn it. -Serpentine.
Explaining things to him like he's never done it before and he's picking up
concepts that it takes sometimes two weeks for somebody to pick up.
Watch, you're a little on the right.
-I've got it, just missing it. I can see it. There you go. -Start motoring.
-HAMMOND: Now I'm gonna go around this last cone. -Around the cone.
To the... To the left. To the left. To the left.
HAMMOND: I think I'm good.
Get your fire pump started. Get your stream going. Flick it to go.
Knock those cones off. Get to 'em.
Good. Knock 'em down.
You've only got one left.
-HAMMOND: That's gone. -LEWIS: It's gone.
So now I can... When do I start on the car? Now?
Oh, actually you want to blow the window out.
So we can go... Go as close as you can.
LEWIS: Keep driving, go into it. You're doing a great job.
Get up. Get into the window.
Hold still. Right there.
HAMMOND: So now I'm just flooding the car,
I'm actually getting to put the fire out, this is what it does.
It's now doing what it was built to do.
-That feels amazing. -Knock out that front window, go to the right.
So you're actually using the power of the hose
-to knock the windows through, is that what we're doing here? -Yeah.
LEWIS: Move forward. Move forward.
-HAMMOND: Is it out, is it out? -LEWIS: Knock it out.
Ow!
-HAMMOND: Right, let's get out. Let's do it. -LEWIS: All right.
(LEWIS LAUGHING)
So what do you think?
To be fair most of that will polish out. I reckon.
-Yes. Yes. -One weekend and you'll have that back up and running.
So, all in all, am I ready now for my exam?
-You didn't wreck the truck. -No I didn't. I didn't.
You didn't knock over any cones.
No, I got through that.
You pushed the barrels.
-Yeah, I did all right. -That takes a lot of accuracy.
I mean, on your first time...
The only thing is technically that minivan is still on fire.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
How much water have I just put on there?
Almost 4,500 gallons.
4,500 gallons of water.
-Won't put it out. -I just emptied your tank into it... And yeah.
-It's got smoke. -It's smoking.
Richard, you did really good, you drove the truck well, you did the obstacle
but the main objective, you didn't put the fire out. Man, what's the deal?
HAMMOND: Going into my final exam I'm feeling pretty confident.
I've mastered driving the Striker
and my aim with the water cannon has proved impeccable.
Right now really, my only weakness is my complete
inability to actually put out a fire.
So I passed my physical fitness test. Just.
Completed the obstacle course. Barely.
All that's remaining for me now is my final exam.
Which means at some point from now on an alarm is going to sound.
At that time I've got to stop whatever I'm doing,
rush out, suit up, jump in the Striker,
respond to the incident and extinguish an aircraft fire.
All by myself and all within four minutes.
And then and only then will I earn the right to call myself a firefighter.
The thing is, just like a real firefighter,
I don't know when the emergency is going to happen.
So I've just got to wait.
A TV montage would help pass the time.
(PLAYFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
HAMMOND: Who usually cooks then, seriously?
Do you have a usual cook here or do you just break it up between you?
-I usually do. I do. -Do you?
So you are... You are the chef.
-Yes. -Or "Chefette"?
-Right. -(LAUGHS)
If I start a fire in the fire house, that's a bad thing?
Well, um, what I'm going to make for you guys tonight, shepherd's pie.
I am pretty much known in the UK for my cooking before anything else.
(GROANS)
-JENN: Man, I'm hungry. -MAN: Yay!
Yeah. Ta-da! It's not the most visually compelling of dishes.
MIKE: At least you're keeping that part warm.
JENN: It smells really good. Oh, it tastes good.
I'm not sure anybody went back for seconds.
But we ate it. It took... It satisfied our needs that day.
It's supposed to have oyster sauce in it, but I couldn't find any.
FIREFIGHTER: What do you think, Chief?
I'm hoping that his training went a lot better than his food preparation.
(ALL LAUGHING)
(SIREN WAILING)
(WOMAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY OVER INTERCOM)
Boss, you've got to go.
HAMMOND: Okay, very good.
So this is a drill of some sort.
All right, I think I know what's happening here.
I think I know what's going on.
Okay, let's not panic, this is my final exam.
Which means I've got four minutes to get all this kit on,
get in the Striker and get out to the fire pit and put out a burning plane.
Nice boots, James Bond.
God, I need some quicker release boots than this. This is ridiculous!
I haven't thought this through at all, have I?
JENN: That got him off to a rocky start.
That may have frazzled him a little bit but he kept his composure.
Up.
Better run. (GRUNTING)
Oh, why is the zip on the other side, that's just impossible.
Gear's on. Let's go.
Right. Seat belt. Gotta go on regulations.
Can't do that now, let's just think this through.
Don't panic. Uh, uh... Yeah.
Make sure that everything else is off. Start.
Parking brake off.
Into drive, checking the mirrors, put it straight...
Don't panic. Don't panic. If you dent the machine now, you're completely finished.
JENN: Our job is about responding as quickly as possible.
So, I think that forced him to amp it up a little bit.
He's flooring it.
Okay, I'm out of the station.
I'm suited and booted.
I can see the flames are over there.
Time is ticking.
Come on!
This thing does move, but you know what,
for the first time it doesn't go fast enough.
I'm behind time already.
Right, let's get that out. Let's have my water on.
Don't forget the punch, I'm getting the nozzle out ready to start firing.
Let's put that in neutral position now.
There we go. The water going on.
I am fighting a fire. I could have been here quicker.
I am behind already.
Now, let's get this rainbow effect going on, dropping the water onto it.
Instead of hitting directly with flame contact,
you gotta go above it and what it does is it kind of...
Once it gets out to a certain point
it kind of just rains down on it to knock down the fire.
HAMMOND: I feel I took too long getting here.
Let's move it round. Let's have a go at this side of it now.
Let's fight that bit there.
Oh, God. I've got 46 seconds to go.
I'm going to do this. I'm going to get this thing extinguished.
Let's drop it onto the flames from above.
Boy, now let's just soak this thing down.
Eight seconds.
These guys must feel so alone when they're doing this for real.
When you are staring in the face of an actual burning aircraft.
Just you and the Striker together tackling it.
But we're out. We're out. We're out. Surely I've got this thing out.
I can't say that didn't get to me, the stress of that.
Because it did.
That was, uh...
It was exciting, and for me it was exciting in a good way. It was a test.
I'm not sure I'd want to do it for real.
I know his adrenaline was flowing and you could tell
just by his reactions, that that was a whole lot of work for him.
-Good job, Richard. -JENN: "A" for effort.
-HAMMOND: Well, it's out. -Good job.
Good job.
I reckon, I had what, three seconds to spare there?
Come on, I did, more or less.
You made it. Considering most people train for six months
on this truck before they are actually allowed to drive it,
I think for three days, you did great.
I admire what you do.
And what you're here ready to do at any time
and it could happen, it could happen right now.
I don't know if I would want the job.
(ALL LAUGHING)
No offense, it's a great job you do.
I'm so glad you guys are doing it.
It's one of those jobs I think if it suits you, if it fits,
it's probably the best job in the world.
-So all I say is I'm glad you guys are there to do it. -Thank you.
Now, after my three days, I can bumble up here
and squirt some water over there. Pretending, but, hey...
He's not done yet, he still has to re-service it,
wash it and put it back in the station.
LEWIS: Oh, yeah. The fun stuff.
-This is your newbie stuff. I resign. -(ALL LAUGHING)
It's three days and three days are up now.
It's been an honor serving with you. Put it there, sir.
(LAUGHING)
It really has. It's been a privilege.
Thanks for being... Well, really terrible to me, with the wet boots
-and everything else, but... -(LAUGHING)
(SIREN WAILING)
(WOMAN SPEAKING OVER RADIO)
WOMAN: Grass fire in the grassy area to the left of runway 135.
(HORN HONKING)
JENN: Can he go? Yeah, just get in right now.
JENN: Just hold on.
Uh, we just got toned out to a grass fire on the right side of this runway right here.
MAN ON RADIO: Well, from up here, it's probably 100, 150 feet across.
Got us some pretty good flames blowing up in the wind.
What's astonishing is that I'm now getting to see them do for real
the things I've been doing practicing all week.
Uh, this is a grass fire. It's right over here
at the very north end of the runway right here.
And since it's so dry out right now the grass fire,
if it gets going, it can be gone just like that.
(INAUDIBLE RADIO CHATTER)
HAMMOND: It was a grass fire at the airport.
Potentially a really bad thing but you and I are really lucky.
Because what just happened is we got to see the Striker and the team running it
do what they're here to do.
And I'd love to be really British and reserved and go,
"Yeah, that was a really useful illustration
"of what we've been observing thus far."
But, uh, actually I've got to say, "Wow! That was amazing!"
To get an actual shout whilst talking to the guys.
Radios blaring, in, go, what's it going to be, where's it going to be?
What are we going to find when we get there?
To see them, ***! Do the job. Wow.
I didn't know that he would do that well, but he did.
He surprised everybody I think.
We'll give him his props, he did pretty, pretty good. He did pretty good.
In three days he did great.
I'm very fortunate that I've got a brilliant staff.
They were able to really impart a lot of information to Richard quickly.
Kind of really give him an opportunity to see and feel his way around all that,
and I think that, more than anything else, contributed to his success.
Needless to say, it has been an amazing few days.
We've enjoyed a privileged insight into the work carried out
by such a dedicated and incredible team.
I'm going to miss them. The whole team.
And when I say whole team, I mean including its biggest member,
the Striker.
That's one focused, yet multi-skilled machine
that's always there, always ready to help the rest of the guys
get out there and do what they do best.
Which is, after all, fight fires and save lives.