What do they term as overkill????? When we had a 737 declair an emergency a few years ago, we had four rural fire departments plus the city's five battalions on full alert to back up the airports fire squads. When it landed, there were firetrucks everywhere within a 10 mile radius. It landed safely and the press termed the event as a big charade and a waste of resources.

We had the same procedure for a Piper Cub. Firemen consider planes as flying gastanks. Whether the plane carries 10 gallons of 5000 gallons, they all blow up the same.