Rural Water Supply

[Guest]

Just wondering for all those rural departments,

How do u go about obtaining water for a major fire?

How many departments' tankers are called in? Hose setups? Drafting? Porta-pumps?

ANYTHING about tanker shuttle/rural water supply is greatly appreciated

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Last time i heard of a rural fire there were 4 tankers dumping into a portable pond with the attack engine being fed from another engine drawing from the portable pond with another engine set up for drafting for filling the tankers

[Guest]

In our town we set up an Engine as close as we can to the fire for attack then we try to set up our 3,000 gallon tanker right behind this rig for water supply. On initial call we try to get our 3 tankers out and for comfirmed fires we go to the closest two towns for their tankers for additional water. One of our incoming Engines in be designated to will pick a dry hydrant near by and set up water supply to refill the tankers as they empty.

Thats the short of the short for tanker shuttle

[Guest]

Last time i heard of a rural fire there were 4 tankers dumping into a portable pond with the attack engine being fed from another engine drawing from the portable pond with another engine set up for drafting for filling the tankers

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thats nice!

What does your departmend have for equipment (tankers)

Was this all your department? Or was there any mutual aid?

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

All of the Tankers were mutual aid 3 engines were from the same department but one of the engines is a source engine

[Guest]

ya in my town my FD usually sets up the engine for attacks, and tanker I pulls up and drops 2500 gallons into our dump tank, tanker 2 OR a mutual aid company covers a dry hydrant, and fills tankers.

Usually we have about 5-6 tankers (including 2 from our town) shuttling water. Our tanker 2 is just a roll-off tank on a DPW truck. Funding is low in my town

So, Is it the same for long driveways?

[Remember585 815]

On confirmation of a working fire in our non-hydrant area we generally will do the following.

1st Engine for suppression.

2nd Engine for relaying (usually a long stretch) and if not needed for this, it will draft from the portable ponds.

3rd Engine to draft from portable ponds or to establish a fill site, depending on the need.

4th Engine (if needed) to create a fill site if the other three are already being used.

A total of four tankers on the assignment, more if needed.

The last fire we had where we had no hydrants was an abandoned mansion that was close to 1000 feet up a hill. 1st arriving laid up the hill about 1/3 of the way up, 2nd Engine finished the lay and relayed to the first. The 3rd Engine drafted from the portable ponds, and a 4th (Mutual Aid) Engine established a fill site. A total of 6 tankers were shuttling water for several hours.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Depends on the lenght and size of the drive way

i would say mostly no but it it really depends

[Guest]

my town does this

1) Engine laays to the house

2) Tanker 1 sets up dump tank( tanker rolls before 2nd engine)

3) If Another Engine is enroute, but not there, tanker DOES NOT dump water, instead he pumps to the attack or relay engine, with a gated Y in the supply line

4) 3rd Due ties into Gated , and tanker dumps water, and goes to fill

Also, sorry for soo much posts, This is my first topic I have posted, and im excited to get replies

[firemoose827 324]

No need to apologise josh, this is a good topic.

In Schoharie county we dont have many villages with hydrants; Ours in Cobleskill, Middleburgh, Schoharie, Sharon Springs, Central Bridge. The rest of the county I believe is all rural. We usually start rolling tankers from three of or neighbors. Our eng. 3 is the attack eng., and eng. 1 will roll to the nearest dry-hydrant or pond to either relay water with its 2500 feet of 5" hose, or fill tankers. If we need more engines we have eng. 2 which is our village attack truck or our old eng. 3 which is now our back-up eng.

Rural ops require a lot of manpower mostly, for stretching LDH and setting up portable ponds and deck guns. If we dont have a timely response "Surround and Drownd" becomes the only tactic and a good tanker shuttle with at least 4-5 tankers, depending on how far away your fill site is.

[Guest]

If'n you have 4-5 tankers, make sure your couplings are compatable or you have adapters available. Make filling them a bit easier.

[CHIEFPHIL 90]

We have a pretty good written plan for tanker shuttles. Although it can and has been modified by the incident commander. Our non hydrant area was divided up into 7 water supply points, each area having a primary water supply and back up watersupply. Careful consideration was made to include that each district had no more then a 3 mile turn around and that a well laid out route was in place that kept the tankers moving in a loop.

water supply is mainly from hydrants and some in-ground tanks [10@ 15,000 gallons each]. we do not rely on ponds, streams or other natural water sources.

initial response

Eng-5 [1000 gallon]to the scene, if knoing a worker, lays a supply line from nearest intersection or driveway to scene

Tanker 1 [2500 gallon]goes to nearest intersection and drops fold-a-tank and proceeds to scene to nurse e-5, once emptied it goes for water and becomes part of the shuttle

eng-6 [1000 gallon] sets up the folding tank and prepares for a draft

eng-2 [2000 gallon] dumps into the tank and proceeds for water

eng-1 [750 gallon] stages with e-6 in the event of a failure - crew assist with suppresion

Once it is determined that a tanker shuttle is needed, a specific mutual aid run card is used, calling 4 tankers to the scene and one to cover. It also calls for 3 engines, 1 to a pre determined water source to fill tankers and 2 to cover.

If we do not need to go into a tanker shuttle, then tanker 1 and eng 2 nurse engine 5. Usually we call in one tanker to back them up . All of our mutual aid tankers are 2500 gallons or more.

[TL2L31 8]

Being from a town with a full hydrant system, when I moved and buffed my first fire, I was amazed. It was somethig to see all these tankers lined up dumping water into portable pools. I guess I am one of the lucky ones.