A fire helicopter dispenses sewage water on working ground based firefighters.

Firefighters are definitely in a rough line of work. But, one recent incident simply got nasty for fire officials.

Approximately 50 firemen and four aircraft were recently sent to a small town in Australia to put out a bushfire. However, a helicopter mistakenly pulled up wastewater from a pond at a sewage treatment plant and dropped the massive stream of fluid on the ground-based firefighters.

More than two dozen fire officials were affected, requiring decontamination. A Rural Fire Service spokesperson stated “As a precaution, each firefighter has since been provided with further medical follow-up. At this time, no firefighters have complained of any ill-effects. They will continue to be monitored by the Rural Fire Service.”

An inspector insists that the operation was not as bad as reports made it out to be. He claimed that any involved aircraft is ordered to get to the closest source of water during the early stages of the fire and states that treated wastewater has been used in the past to assist with fire extinguishing.

However, a review or investigation may be underway “to take away some lessons” from the incident.