Hauling Water - Alabama Style With Poarch Creek Indians Fire Department
By President Mark Davis
March 7, 2019
The weekend of March 2nd and 3rd took us to Escambia County, Alabama and the Poarch Creek Indians Fire Department where we delivered our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operations Seminar. The program was sponsored by the Alabama Fire College and hosted by the local fire department. The weekend began with a 4-hr classroom session reviewing the best practices of hauling water with tankers. Saturday afternoon was dedicated to a practical skills session on dump tank operations. Sunday morning took us back to the drill field where folks completed practical work on drafting and tanker loading operations. After lunch, our 2-hr tanker shuttle exercise was cancelled due to some very severe weather that moved through area. We were able to provide some classroom review of rural water supply planning and system delivery before ending the day with an outdoor demonstration of a vacuum tanker.
We really appreciated all of the Southern Hospitality provided by the Alabama Fire College and Poarch Creek folks. Some excellent food was provided both days and the training facility was superb. Instructors for the weekend were Mark Davis and Tim Legore.
Classroom work was held at the Poarch Creek Community Center...a top notch facility for learning and instruction.
Reviewing pumping apparatus in terms of drafting capabilities and limitations.
Practicing setting up to draft through the drain sleeve of a dump tank. Not pretty...but it works in "a pinch.!"
Reviewing the various types of dump tank arrangements taking time to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Class room review of water hauling best practices.
Practicing the "single-lane" arrangement of dump tanks.
Poarch Creek's 3,000-gal tanker offloads the first load of water.
Setting up to draft off of a bridge in order to load tankers.
Students practiced loading tankers using cam lock fittings.
Perdido FD brought their vacuum for Sunday's practical skill seasons.
The crew provided a demo of the 2500-gal vacuum tanker's capabilities.
