|
Welcome to the Official Website for GBW Associates, LLC.
    
GotBigWater is the official website of GBW Associates, LLC, a privately owned training, consulting, and design firm located in Westminster, Maryland. Our specialty is water supply for public and private fire protection. We at GBW Associates, LLC are known for our training programs, our consulting services, our dry hydrants, and our testing services. Over the years, we have completed projects in over 42 different states and Canada ranging from rural water supply and incident command seminars to ISO water supply assessments to community master planning.
Use the menu at the left to take a look at our services and to contact us. Be sure to check out the News Archive and Big Water Information sections for a whole bunch of information on water supply delivery operations.
Scroll down to see our recent activities, upcoming events, and website updates.
* * *
Be sure to join the Members Area to discuss water supply issues, view our document library, and receive announcement notices concerning our website and our services- it is FREE!
* * *
Upcoming Seminars, Courses, and Drills
Click on image to view flyer.
| |
 |
 |
 |
| |
New York |
South Dakota |
Virginia |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Alberta |
Alberta |
Alberta |
Pennsylvania |
 |
 |
|
|
| Kansas |
New Hampshire |
|
|
LDH Appliances #14 - Threaded Suction Intake Control Valve
President Mark Davis, May 15
A recent discussion on our Facebook page about suction inlet control valves reminded us of a couple photos we found while looking back on our 2011 seminar in DeKalb County, Alabama. The two photos are pretty simple but show what we believe is a best practice of having a threaded connection on the inlet side of an external control valve if the department plans on drafting through the valve. For more ... (Full Story & Photos)
|
Having the inlet side of the control valve outfitted with 6" NH male thread allows for the quick attachment of traditional suction hose for drafting...should the FD choose to use the valve as a suction inlet control valve during drafting operations.
|
|
Gettin' it done in Onondaga County, New York!
|
Hauling Water - Onondaga County Style!
Alan Butsch, Senior Associate, May 08
Last weekend, folks from multiple departments in southern Onondaga county, NY got together to learn about moving big water on wheels. Students were exposed to new concepts such as drafting through multiple hard sleeves, utilizing all available room on a road by placing dump tanks in front of a pumper, and filling tankers via an open relay utilizing several different eductor style water movers...including ... (Full Story & Photos)
|
|
|
Haulin' Water - Maryland Eastern Shore Style
President Mark Davis, May 01
On April 27th, around 40 folks from Kent County and surrounding areas (Kentucky also) worked hard to haul water with tankers for 2-hours uninterrupted. The drill was the culmination of our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operation Seminar that was sponsored by the Kent County Fire Chiefs Association and hosted by the Chestertown VFD. The goal of the drill was to try and run a rural hitch operation for the ... (Full Story & Photos)
|
A peak flow of just under 2000 gpm was achieved during the second half of the drill.
|
|
|
Waterbury Engine 1 (1500 gpm) takes draft and prepares to flowtest the newly installed dry fire hydrant.
|
Dry Hydrant Design #72 - Bridge-Mount Installation - Duxbury, Vermont
President Mark Davis, April 24
Earlier this month we finished up another bridge-mount dry fire hydrant installation in Vermont. This time it was on River Road in the Town of Duxbury. The Vermont Rural Fire Protection Task Force through the Vermont Association of Conservation Districts (VACD) provided assistance to the Waterbury Fire Department in developing a plan to improve water supply in Duxbury. The Vermont Legislature approved ... (Full Story & Photos)
|
|
|
Dry Hydrant Design #71 - Another Bridge Mount for Champlain, NY
President Mark Davis, April 17
After fighting off several months of snow and frigid temperatures we were able to complete our installation of a bridge-mount dry fire hydrant on Cardin Road in Champlain, NY. The Champlain Fire District and the Town of Champlain have done an excellent job of assessing their fire protection water supply needs....especially their drafting and dry fire hydrant locations. The Cardin Road dry fire hydrant ... (Full Story & Photos)
|
Niagara Hose Engine 141 (2000 gpm) flow tests the new installation and produces a 1000+ gpm flow using the pre-piped deck gun.
|
|
|
A 3-dump tank operation supports the 1500 gpm flow.
|
Haulin' Water - Winfield, Maryland Style!
President Mark Davis, April 10
On April 5th and 6th more than 80 folks from three Maryland counties got together to review the best practices of hauling water with tankers. The focus of our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operations seminar was applying the best practices of hauling water while following the Carroll County SOP on structural firefighting. The 2-hr drill on Sunday was designed so that the first half of the drill would ... (Full Story & Photos)
|
|
|
Dump Site Operations #37 - 3-Way Clappered Siamese
President Mark Davis, April 03
No rocket science here. There are number of appliances that can be used to make a "rural hitch" operation work. The clappered ones tend to work best as no human is needed to open a control valve. At our seminar last month in Iowa, a 5" Storz x 2-1/2" NH 3-way clappered siamese was used to support the rural hitch operation that supplied water to an attack engine 650 feet away. The device worked just ... (Full Story & Photos)
|
The 3-way clappered siamese was a good fit for this water supply operation.
|
|
|
Floyd Engine 1 (1500 gpm) operates as the dump site engine at the 37-minute mark. A rural hitch operation was executed for the first 37-minutes of the drill.
|
Hauling Water - Iowa Style!
President Mark Davis, March 27
On March 22nd (2025) more than 40 folks from Floyd County and surrounding areas got together in 20-degree weather to haul and pump water for two-hours, uninterrupted. The drill culminated our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operations Seminar that was hosted by the Floyd Community Volunteer Fire Department and sponsored in part by the Quad County Firefighters Association. Participants spent Thursday and ... (Full Story & Photos)
|
Your questions and feedback are important to us! If you have a question about water supply or pumps or FD stuff in general, join our Members area (for free) to post your inquiry. We will provide our thoughts and perhaps other folks in the field will provide theirs also.
Also - be sure to sign the guest book if this is your first time here - guestbook.
|
