Over the summer, we were helping some folks develop specs for a new pumper and were out visiting various rigs in the Baltimore/Washington area. The College Park VFD (University of Maryland) was one of our stops and there we found an interesting approach to storing suction hose - on the roof of the cab. The suction hose is stored on the cab roof on College Park's Engine 122 because they protect a fully-hydranted area and have little need to draft other than at pump test time and during driver's training. We found the concept quite interesting and worthy of sharing.

We often have noted the need for rural pumpers to carry more than the standard 20-feet of suction hose and this "up on the roof" storage idea has some merit. Many times getting an extra 15 ft to 20 ft of suction hose on a smaller pumper can be a challenge - and most of the time, more than 20 feet is not needed on an incident. However, to increase pump capacity and to access more distant suction sources - those additional lengths of suction house are invaluable. So...maybe the cab roof is a nice - out of the way - place to store some additional suction hose.

Think about the rural application of this idea - we like it!