Thursday, March 4, 2010

Oops

In southern New Jersey recently, a woman lost control of her car and ended up in two feet of water. She was rescued from the car by police and fire personnel.

A happy ending, right? Well, the story does not really end there. You see, then there was the matter of retrieving the car. Which is why these two men are wearing odd-looking bright orange suits:

The suits are "Cold Water Immersion Suits," which enabled these two members of the local fire company to enter the frigid waters and attach winch cables to the tow hooks on the car. Just another item of unique equipment that enables public safety workers to do their jobs.

But think about it: Would you like to wade into a pond on a 30-degree March day? Even with one of these specialized suits, you likely would prefer to stay on shore. But it is just another part of the job for police officers and firefighters, and in the case of firefighters, often they are unpaid volunteers.

A reminder that there is waay more to these jobs than typically comes to mind.

(Photos by Lukas K. Murray, courtesy of the Gloucester County Times.)