On the afternoon of May 21st, about 40 folks from Cumberland and Oxford Counties, Maine gathered at the Harrison Fire Department and hauled water for about 2-hours as part of our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operations Seminar. The program was sponsored by the Cumberland/Oxford Fire Chiefs' Association and hosted by the Harrison Fire Department. The drill culminated a weekend of reviewing the best practices ... (Full Story & Photos)

Regarding midship mounted fire pumps, a rear suction inlet can generally out-perform a traditional front inlet in most instances. Of course, this assumes one is comparing same diameter inlet piping and same rated pump capacities. In most cases, the increased performance is due to the reduced number of bends and elbows needed for the rear inlet design compared to the traditional front inlet design. ... (Full Story & Photos)

On May 7th, folks from several Catawba County (North Carolina) and surrounding jurisdictions spent their afternoon refining their water hauling skills as part of our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operations Seminar that was sponsored by Catawba Valley Community College. The 2-hr drill was the culmination of two days of work reviewing the best practices associated with tanker operations. The seminar was ... (Full Story & Photos)

In many of our YouTube video clips and often during our classes you will hear us speak of the benefits of the "big" pump in the rural setting. One misconception of the big pump in the rural setting is that "we have nothing that needs a 2000 gpm fire flow." In the rural environment where tanker shuttles or LDH relays are the norm, the advantage of a large capacity pumper is the ability to pump the ... (Full Story & Photos)

On April 23rd, about 40 folks from the Campbell County region of central Virginia participated in a 2-hr rural water supply drill using 6 tankers and two fill sites. The drill culminated our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operations Seminar that was sponsored by the Gladys Volunteer Fire Department and the Central Virginia Volunteer Firefighter’s Association. This was our first seminar in Virginia and ... (Full Story & Photos)

On April 15th, more than 75 folks from the Seneca County, New York and surrounding region participated in a rural water supply drill using 13 tankers and two fills site. The drill culminated our 14-hr Rural Water Supply Operations Seminar that was sponsored by the Seneca County Department of Emergency Services and the Seneca County Chiefs Association and hosted by the Fayette Fire Department. This ... (Full Story & Photos)

The use of 45-degree elbows in dry fire hydrant design is important in reducing the friction loss in the designed system. This practice does not always work out due to the grade of the slope or the footprint available for installation, but it is the better choice. But as with most anything, there is always a disadvantage or two. With the 45-degree suction head there becomes the issue of downward ... (Full Story & Photos)

From our 2011 seminar in Hartford, Vermont, two portable pumps were used to supply water from the Connecticut River to a 1,500 gpm pumper that then loaded tankers at just around the 1100 gpm mark. The portables supplied water to the pumper's front and officer side intakes and when not loading tankers, the water from the portable pumps travelled through the 1500 gpm midship pump out the driver's side ... (Full Story & Photos)