Hauling Water - Iowa Style - A New Member of the 1,000 gpm Club!
By President Mark Davis
April 2, 2015
The Le Claire (Iowa) Fire Department hosted our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operations Seminar this past weekend (March 28th and 29th) and it was quite a success. With 30 attendees from 8 local departments - the folks were able to become the newest members of the exclusive "1,000 gpm Club." Using the Mississippi River as their water source - the crews used a pumper and a fire boat to support seven tankers in supplying over 1,000 gpm - uninterrupted for the full duration of the 2-hr drill. Congratulations!
The seminar began on Saturday with a morning classroom session reviewing the best practices of rural water supply operations. The remainder of the weekend was focused on the operation of dump sites and fill sites. The seminar culminated in the completion of the 2-hr ISO tanker shuttle drill Sunday afternoon.
We are also pleased to report that our t-shirt and hat raffle was able to support the 39th brick in the National Fallen Firefighters Walk-of-Honor Memorial and...we were able to support a brick in the Iowa Firefighters Memorial as well. Many, many thanks to Fol-Da-Tank Company who supplied a 2,000-gallon Single Lane Tank for the raffle! They also supplied a suction elbow and a low-level strainer - plus items to use during the weekend. Many thanks also to Alexis Fire Apparatus for supplying t-shirts, hats, and calendars for the raffle.
Mark Davis and Tim Legore were the instructors for the weekend and a good time was had by all. Many thanks to the Le Claire FD for hosting the programs - your logistical support was excellent.
Look for a full summary of the drill to be posted in a week or so.
fold a tank raffle
bricks
The seminar began on Saturday with a morning classroom session reviewing the basic principles of hauling water with tankers.
A few of the rigs that helped haul water on Sunday afternoon.
Loading tankers at the public boat launch area in downtown Le Claire, Iowa.
Le Claire's 750 gpm fire boat flowing more than 1100 gpm using 5-inch hose instead of 3-inch hose!
Le Claire Engine 5 drafting from the Mississippi River through 30-ft of suction hose - the fire boat and the pumper ran independent, 1,000 gpm fill sites.
The fill site crews worked just like a NASCAR pit stop!
The "loader."
The first few moments at the dump site.
Three dump tanks in operation. Flow was pushed to 1,000 gpm at the 48-minute mark - and it never dropped below that!
Tanker efficiency was very important.
Flow was pushed to 1,250 gpm for about 50 of the last 60 minutes in the drill.
The dump site was well-coordinated by a command officer who did not do "hands on" stuff and instead, managed the site very well.
Port Byron's pumper worked as the dump pumper (1,250 gpm) and supplied 1,250 fpm to the tower, plus ran two jet siphons, plus supported the tower running a jet siphon. Note the use of a length of 3-inch suction hose - this helped raise the intake capacity of the pumper.
The 3,500-gallon primary dump tank is kept full.
A great looking jet siphon stream.
Le Claire Truck 1 served as the "attack" piece and was responsible for getting the water back into the Mississippi River.
