A utility worker in Venezuela resorted to unconventional means to combat an electrical fire near his job site, and used soda to douse the flames.
Viral footage shows the man lifted high in the bucket of a maintenance truck, standing dangerously close to a transformer that caught fire.
Apparently the construction worker was fresh out of fire extinguishers, and instead tossed two-liter soda bottles into the collapsed lid of the transformer.
The unorthodox method seemed to do the trick. After lobbing a few two-liter "Gulp" sodas into the transformer, the flames subsided after roughly one minute, the video shows.
The construction worker's brave, wildly unconventional method drew praise on social media.
"This brother, electrician and firefighter, but aside from that he's a hunter. Because he's got tremendous aim. It's not easy to pull that off...." an X user commented in a translated post.
"The guy is a hero," another replied.
Electrical fires are very common. However, they are especially dangerous near telephone poles.
For most fire departments, the protocol for responding to fires near telephone poles is to first evacuate the area. Then, they are contact the proper company to shut down the power.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently reported that fire departments responded to more than 40,000 cases of electrical fires between 2020 and 2024.
Last month, a fire sparked by an electrical shortage at the Texas State Fair torched an entire prize stand.
Police stated that the fire broke at a game stand on Oct. 6 around 7:10 AM local time, producing a large smoke plume.
"A large column of smoke could be seen upon arrival," DFR Public Information Officer Jason Evans said. "When firefighters arrived on location, they discovered fire coming from the balloon pop game."
The State Fair of Texas was not open at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported, officials said.
A much more severe electrical fire broke out at the Texas State Fair in 2012, which burned the exterior of its 52-foot mascot "Big Tex."
The massive fire occurred on the 60th anniversary of the animatronic mascot.
Perhaps next time the fair workers will toss a few two-liter sodas it's way to combat the flames.
