Like a good portion of the country, Texas has seen Mother Nature's fury in recent weeks. Everywhere from Abilene to San Antonio has witnessed and endured winds, rain and floods, and firefighters have spent hours upon hours trying to educate the public on the forces of moving flood waters.

People assume that their 3,000-pound vehicle can't be pushed off the road in a mere two feet of water, so John Q. Public either drives through flood waters or stays just a little too long at the homestead. And true to form “when in trouble or in doubt, call 911 and the heroes rush out.”

As a profession we will take more risks because that's what we do, right? A fire apparatus is much heavier than normal vehicles and normally can negotiate a little deeper water. Hopefully, we get in our trusty rig, whether it's a 4×4 brush truck or a large Class A pumper, and respond through the flood waters. If we are lucky enough to make the rescue and get all department personnel home, we chalk it up in the win column.

But what damage did we do to the apparatus? What extra precautions or problems need to be addressed after running apparatus in water? Seems like a simple question, but there are a lot of items nobody anticipates in this type of apparatus response. Let's just take a few items and get the maintenance officer a trouble light and a creeper to take a look at the dirty side under your unit.

Dry cleaning

Let's assume for whatever reason, you have taken this apparatus through flood waters. Immediately after this type of submarine warfare we should:

Check engine oils for water contamination. Water can enter through oil fill pipes or dipstick tubes. Oil that looks like malted milk should be changed immediately. Driving units in this condition can cause serious, expensive damage very quickly.

Check transfer case, transmission and PTO cases for water contamination. Hot seals on drive lines shrink rapidly when immersed in cold flood waters; the drive lines literally screw the water into these cases. Rear axle housings can get water contamination through drive lines or if the water is deep enough. It can even fill up through the rear axle air vent on top of the differential housing.

Look for branches, limbs or foreign objects jammed under the vehicle from crossing the flood waters. When I crossed the Guadalupe on I-35 during the recent floods, there was a long section of barb wire and fence posts flowing rapidly downstream. Who knows what is under the truck after an amphibious journey?

Grease all of the U-joints. Be sure to force the water out. Excessive grease should then be wiped off. Check the joints for excessive play. Don't forget the slip joints. Remove the spline collars and be sure all of the water drains out. Then replace them and lube them as needed.

Grease all front end parts, including steering knuckles. If your unit has a steering miter box, check it for water contamination. Main steering boxes most times won't pick up water because they are pressurized. Just the same, check the power-steering reservoir.

Check the front of the radiator, and on diesels with air-to-air, check the aftercooler. If water is forced through these, they can become clogged. Be sure that no cracks exist on plastic fan blades and that no blades are loose on the steel fans. Any evidence of these requires replacement before continued use.

Tilt your cabs and clean off engines and accessories. Give a good visual and the old shake-it-around test.

Check your air cleaners, especially units that have them low and in front. Be sure flex hoses and connections are tight. Open the intake area and see if the filter element is wet. If it is, change it. Turbo chargers get severe indigestion eating paper and rubber filter pieces.

Look at the drums for cracks. If you had a long response and your brakes were hot before you got into deep water, this is a possibility.

Check front hubs for water contamination. A lot of trucks use the oil bath seals on front wheels; if the little red plug is loose, you may have water in the bearing area. If the vehicle was in extremely muddy or sandy water, get your maintenance shop to look inside drums to be sure there isn't an accumulation. If possible, power-wash all mud and sand from under the truck when feasible.

Check all electrical systems. Drain the water from lights, breaker boxes, conduits and the like. Every manufacturer swears his compartments are watertight, but they don't test them in four feet of running water. Clean out the mud and sand from your watertight compartments.

Check diesel or gas generators in compartments before using them after flood operations. Armature areas need to be dry and blown out to be sure sand and mud won't cause further damage.

Leave the truck in the sun and let all compartment doors stay open and dry out. Check all door gaskets to be sure they are still stuck to the doors. On some older trucks, some of the door seals were made of foam and will hold water like a sponge and peel off the door.

Break out the WD-40 and spray all door hinges and latches. Three bottles of WD-40 is cheaper than one door latch.

Drain off all your air tanks several times. Air from the compressor is hot. Water impinging on air lines and tanks causes temperature variances. This causes condensation in your air system.

These are just some of the items or problems you may face after operating apparatus in flood-water conditions. We all watched on TV, read in the newspaper, and saw firefighters and equipment once again rise to the challenge in this severe weather season.

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Jim Faulkner is president of Special Equipment Services in Kaufman, Texas. He also is a retired career firefighter. He can be reached at SESJIM@Juno.com or through www.specialequipmentservices.com