LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Editorial right on target
As I sit here reading Bill Manning’s editorial in the June 1992 issue, I find myself comparing my local situation point for point. There are no new arguments in his editorial, but they are as logically presented as I can recall reading.
His fresh approach to funding is an exciting concept and is also a logical redirection of monies that are relatively wasted now. The underlying problem, as 1 see it, is one of pinning down the governing body as to what is a “reasonable risk” and what justification it used to arrive at that position. I have never seen such evasive action about a community service as in this one point. As he points out, crime has such a positive media reaction that it seems safer to concentrate on police budgets and ignore the fire problems.
We, as fire service members, continually have to bring our focus to bear on this aspect of governmental service at every opportunity and make our leaders take an informed stand on the vital service we provide by giving them such constructive input as that in this editorial.
Tom A. Barnes Emergency Services Coordinator John Wood Community College
Quincy, Illinois
Fire stream management
Recently our department held a seminar on fire stream management given by David P. Fornell, one of your contributing editors. Through this person, the firefighters at this seminar learned more about fire streams of handlines ranging from 1½ to 2½ inches and from smooth-bore to automatic nozzles. He was very good at teaching us in simple terms how to knock down fires with low pump pressure and obtain more gallonage with less nozzle reaction. He also dispelled the myth that smooth-bore nozzles could cause water damage and hurt you. He also taught how such nozzles and correct psi can help if you have low manpower. He explained that pumping at the right pressures will make the nozzles operate correctly-
The day we had this seminar was miserable —it rained all day. The first few’ hours were spent listening and watching his presentation. In the afternoon we went to our local training site. Even though it was raining, we were still able to do different evolutions, as he explained in his Fire Stream Management Handbook. We compliment David Fornell and Fire Engineering for putting this book together. We feel that any department who buys this book will come away with a better understanding and knowledge of howr to attack fires, big or small.
Douglas Watson
Assistant Chief Keith Danis
Battalion Chief Rochelle Park (NJ) Fire Department
Request answered
Many thanks to those who responded to my request for information on Class A foam. Calls and written materials came in from around the country. It seems many people have been spending as much time as I have researching this new tool. I regret not having the time to thank each one personally.
We were fortunate enough to have the manufacturer of proportioners provide us with the equipment and foam for a live burn test. We believe the results warrant its purchase. It definitely has a place in our arsenal of equipment to make operations more efficient, effective, and safe.
A special thanks to firefighters Brown and Whitman from the Saginaw Township (MI) Fire Department, who traveled more than 400 miles to assist and learn with us during the burn. It was a great experience, and we all made some new friends to network with. A special thanks to this column, which provided those opportunities.
I am still looking for information on active deaf firefighters. While they are probably rare, I’m sure someone can help.
Allen Clark
Vice-Presiden t Bell Township Volunteer Fire Department Salina, Pennsylvania
Improving tanker water supply time
Firefighting in an area such as Port Robinson, like many rural areas in Canada, is challenged by the ability to find and supply an adequate amount of water to fight a working fire.
In terms of equipment, we have a 1,500-gallon tanker and a 850-gpm pumper with an on-board tank of 500 gallons. The tanker has an on-board 1,500-gallon capacity portatank (or dump tank) and portapump with a working capacity of about 70 gpm.
In the August 1991 issue of Fire Engineering, the article “Getting the Most Out of Inadequate Hydrants” by Alan F. McCalla described how rural fire companies could use a portatank and pumper to supplement the use of a low -volume hydrant to reduce wear on the hydrants and increase volume flow’ to tankers during fill-up times.
Essentially, the approach is to use the hydrant, the portatank, and the on-board tank on the pumper (if neccssary) to feed the pump and increase volume flow through the pump to the tanker. The water from the hydrant is used to fill and refill the portatank between tanker fill times as the same hard suction lines that feed the pumper work in reverse to fill the portatank The pumper is the go-between. We have tried this approach several times and have found it to be very effective.
We also have experimented with using different sizes of hard suction feed lines from the portatank to the pumper. Obviously, the larger the hard suction hose, the more water can be flowed to the pump and the shorter the fill time. The most efficient was five-inch hard suction line. However, it is heavy to carry and hard to maneuver. Two 2 1/2-inch hard suction lines were nearly as effective. Since we have two intake ports to the tanker, we were also able to test the difference between oneand two-line fill times. In a crude way, this also can simulate the effect of filling two tankers at the same time.
In attempting to apply this tankerfill approach to other situations, we decided to use our portapump in locations where a hydrant was not available. The effect was the same. By locating the portapump at a water source and hooking a 2‘/2-inch line to the pump intake, it served the same role as the low-volume hydrant in the previous situation.
The time it took to fill the tanker using the portapump, one 2‘/2-inch hard suction line from the portatank to the pumper, and two 2‘/2-inch pump-to-tanker fill lines averaged 2½ minutes. When we used the five-inch hard suction line from the portatank to the pumper, the fill time dropped to 58 seconds! W ith two 2’/2-inch fill lines to the pumper, the fill time averaged one minute 45 seconds.
A word of caution: When a lowvolume hydrant is used, the issue of friction loss is not a significant factor. However, on one occasion, we set the portapump up at the bottom of a 17foot embankment. The portapump was able to push the water up the hill, but with a significant loss of volume. It took too much time for the portatank to be refilled after each tanker fill to make the situation efficient. A similar practice using a 10-foot rise worked very well.
While we recognize that not every rural firefighting company can dedicate a pumper for water supply, whenever one is available the approach outlined above can be very effective. It is especially appropriate when multiple-alarm, working fires are involved and the water supply is not near the fire scene.
Overall, we are very impressed with the effectiveness of this approach to reduce tanker fill times and recommend that other fire companies try it out.
Steve Elson
District Chief Gerald Arbour
First Captain District #3, Port Robinson Thorolcl Fire Department Thorold, Ontario, Canada
Back issues wanted
I am a former battalion chief in the volunteer fire service with many years on rescue and EMS units. I have found Fire Engineering to be a valuable resource on many aspects of emergency services, and I am hoping you can assist me with my current project.
I am writing my dissertation on incident command, and I need many issues of Fire Engineering prior to 1990. I would appreciate any help your readers might provide either by donating or selling old issues to me. I would like to keep the magazines as part of my personal reference library. I’ll be happy to pay postage on any donations, too. Write to me at 3825 Shenandoah Place, N.E., Albuquerque, NM 87111.
Thank you for your time. Eire Engineering is a fine magazine, one which 1 count on for timely and innovative information.
Carl E. Stone
Albucjuercjue, New Mexico
