A car was suspended in midair by a stream of gushing water after striking a fire hydrant during a traffic collision Saturday evening in Southern California, a video shared by the Orange County Fire Authority shows.
The fire department said crews were called to respond to a traffic collision at Jeronimo Road and Heidi Avenue in Lake Forest, a community southeast of Irvine, shortly before 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Because the caller reported that there may be an entrapment, OCFA responded with crews equipped for cut and rescue.
Firefighters arrived to find one of the involved vehicles standing on its front end, with its back end held aloft by a stream of water flowing from a fire hydrant.
"We're going to chalk this up as something you don't see everyday," OCFA wrote alongside a video clip on X, formerly Twitter.
The fire department said that "fortunately," both drivers had escaped their vehicles before they arrived. Paramedics treated both drivers and transported them to the hospital.
Firefighters then got to work "isolating the water grid on each side of the hydrant," which lowered the car, allowing firefighters to access the water shutoff.
🇺🇸 In Orange County, California, a car seemed suspended in the air after a collision caused water from a fire hydrant to lift it off the ground.
— TabZ (@TabZLIVE) June 10, 2024
Firefighters worked to stabilize the vehicle and shut off the water supply to safely lower it.
Both drivers involved in the accident… pic.twitter.com/G2AULaPyXh
--with reporting by TMX
