GotBigWater

Classroom sessions and lunches were held at Bellville VFD's HQ station.

All types of tankers participated in the drill.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning practical skill sessions covered the best practices of dump site and fill site set ups.

Crews hustled to set up a multiple-dump tank dump site operation where eventually four tanks were used to support an 1,180 gpm flow.

Big water!

When water hits the line...shut down and go for another load. Do not wait for that last trickle to come out...get on the road.

A 1,250 gpm pumper using the auxiliary 2-1/2-inch intake from the driver side to supplement the intake supply.

We like!

Boost 1 (grass rig) was brought in near the end of the drill to take over operation of one of the jet siphons.

The loan water source...

Cat Spring Engine 803 (1,500 gpm) took supply from the hydrant and then loaded tankers at a rate of 1,000 gpm.

A dump tank was used at the fill site for the vacuum tanker. The hydrant kept the tank full and the vacuum tanker simply "sucked it up" with little effort and in little time.

The fill site became a popular place!


By President Mark Davis
March 2, 2017

Folks from Austin County and surrounding areas spent their Sunday afternoon hauling water in Bellville, Texas as part of a 2-hr water supply drill. The Austin County Firefighters Association sponsored our 16-hr Rural Water Supply Operations Seminar and the Bellville VFD hosted the weekend seminar. The 2-hr drill culminated the weekend allowing participants to put to practice the skills they had learned in class. Using three engines and eight tankers, the crews were able to support a peak flow of 1,180 gpm using a single fire hydrant as the water source. The drill was held at a local high school and the roundtrip mileage for hauling water was about 2.5 miles. Many thanks to the Austin County Firefighters Assn, the Bellville VFD, and TEEX for the excellent logistical support and Texas-style hospitality! The seminar was funded in part using the HB2604 program.