Fill Site Operations #07 - Making the Most Out of the Situation
 
By President Mark Davis
April 30, 2020
 

When sent to set up a tanker fill site, an engine company needs to work hard to deliver as much water as possible using the equipment provided. While scanning some photos from 2015 we found these from our seminar in Chichester, NH. Pembroke Engine 3 (1250 gpm/1500 gal engine/tanker) was sent to a pond to set up a tanker fill site. The crew took advantage of the rig's front mount fire pump and nosed right to the water's edge in order to minimize lift. They also used a 500 gpm portable fire pump to provide supplemental water to the pumper which in turn then pumped water several hundred feet up an access road to an LDH manifold. The combination use of the two pumps and 5-inch LDH allowed tankers to be loaded at a 1000 gpm target loading rate. There certainly are pros and cons of all pump arrangements. One "pro" of the front-mount fire pump is easy access for drafting. Regardless, Engine 3's crew did a really nice job of setting up a high-capacity fill site using the equipment provided and taking advantage of good positioning.