Australian firefighter straps a camera to his helmet — to terrifying results

You may never experience an Australian brush fire firsthand, but the video above gives you a good idea of what it’s like.

The clip, uploaded by the Mt. Victoria Rural Fire Brigade, was taken last week and shows just how scary being in the middle of brush fire can be.

It also reminds me of a really smart line from a recent profile on GoPro and how the camera company has managed to thrive even as the wider consumer camera market has contracted: “GoPro is for proactive moments. […] A smartphone is for reactive, incidental captures.”

In other words, when people strap on something like GoPro, they have a pretty good idea they’re about to do something amazing.

GoPro may not have use cases like this one in mind when it designs its cameras, but it’s these unexpected use cases that have quickly become its devices’ hallmark.