Rural Pump Operations in Punxstuwaney
 
By Senior Associate Alan Butsch
October 4, 2018
 

Instructors Alan Butsch and Chris Reilly visited the folks at the Punxsutawney Fire Department last weekend and delivered our 16-hr Rural Pump Operator Course. The goal of the course is to cover as many as pumping skills as possible over a weekend. Class participants all learned basic and advanced drafting skills, how to operate multiple attack lines, how to fill a tanker, and how to pump a basic dump site. Also covered were pumping a ladder pipe, back flushing pumps, as well as pump construction and operating principles. Many thanks to the folks at the Lindsey Fire Company for hosting our program!
 
Can you use a low-level strainer in a stream? Sure - as long as the bottom is rocky and not full of vegetation.
Can you use a low-level strainer in a stream? Sure - as long as the bottom is rocky and not full of vegetation.
Instructor Chris Reilly goes over "trimming out" a hydrant to increase incoming volume to a pump.
Instructor Chris Reilly goes over "trimming out" a hydrant to increase incoming volume to a pump.
 
Class members got to look at the "GBW" 2-stage pump impeller in order to better understand water flow inside a fire pump.
Class members got to look at the "GBW" 2-stage pump impeller in order to better understand water flow inside a fire pump.