trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose

#Trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose drivers

Some streets in the response area have both hydrants on the same street. The hydrants of one of the systems are painted silver and blue, so there isn’t an NFPA color reference on the hydrant. For example, are there areas that have low flow? Are there areas that have high pressure? For example, in the first-due area where I work, there are two different water companies. When you spot hydrants as a part of your usual routine, it becomes unconscious competence, a mastery of the skill.Ĭrews must learn about the unique features of their water supply system. When you take this to an advance level, crews should look for obstacles, identify main sizes or estimate the stretch. You should do this on fire alarm soundings, medical calls and area familiarization. Make it a game with the crew to see who can spot the hydrant first. The liner was occluding the pipeline, which choked our 5-inch supply line down to the equivalent of a 1- or 2-inch orifice.Ĭrews should get in the habit of spotting hydrants every time that you disembark from the apparatus. Further research indicated that several hose manufacturers were experiencing delamination problems with large-diameter hoses. We began to have decreased flows, and the hose wasn’t laying down right. Delaminating is when the interior lining of the hose becomes disconnected from the exterior jacket.Ī number of years ago, my organization realized we had a delamination with our supply lines. Are there any indications that the hose is delaminating? This risk increases with hose that’s been in use for more than 10 years. When we handle the hose, we must truly look at it. True, it’s difficult to invest a lot of time into a temporary apparatus, but the fact of the matter is, if there’s going to be an opportunity for something to go wrong, it’s more likely to be on an older reserve apparatus that a crew isn’t used to working with. Also, when a reserve apparatus is assigned to your engine house, you must look at the apparatus with a critical eye.

#Trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose drivers

For roving drivers that fill in on a variety of apparatus, this is further complicated. Crews need to connect both lines before the start of the operation or completely shut down the operation if they want to introduce an additional water supply.Īs firefighters, we must understand the limitation of our apparatus. The water-way intakes might not be gated. Similar set-ups can be found on aerial companies that have two large-diameter intakes for the water way. The disadvantage is that the water supply must be established before the pump is engaged. The advantage to this set-up is water can be placed directly into the pump, which maximizes the available water. However, the side intake is a more efficient way to introduce water to the pump, and it minimizes losses in gpm and pressure.Īre there features of the apparatus that the crew must be aware of before establishing a water supply? Some apparatus don’t have a gate valve on their large-diameter intake. Some front intakes have six 90-degree bends. It’s easy, and it has a short pony section (5-inch line), which makes attachment to the hydrant easy. The front intake is the tried-and-true method for supplying the pumpers. Take, for example, engine companies that have three large-diameter inlets: one on the driver’s side, one on the officer’s side and a front intake. What intake will allow the most volume of water to enter the apparatus with the least amount of pressure loss? In most incidents, we can overcome small losses in gallonage and pressure. In the case of an organization that has riding assignments, the riding assignments should include truck check responsibilities.įirst, let’s size up the apparatus. In the absence of an established expectation, a company must define its expectation. If your department has an established water-supply policy, the company officer must ensure that members are familiar with the expectations. We need to look at water supply more than merely laying a hoseline from the hydrant to the fire.Įstablishing an effective water supply begins at the engine house, long before the incident. One key component to getting water onto the fire is efficiently establishing a water supply. West Coast tactics, one thing that we all can agree on is water puts out fires.

No matter where we stand on the modern fire-attack debate, on combination nozzle vs.