Saturday, April 16, 2016

No Fire Hydrant? No Problem!

By: Captain Vicki Fowler
       Hyattstown Fire Station #9

Not all of Montgomery County has fire hydrants in their neighborhood.  As a matter of fact, in Hyattstown Fire Station 9's first due area, there are zero fire hydrants. That is okay as we can bring our own water or get water from one of the local creeks, ponds, lakes or even pools.

In order to ensure we are ready to handle fires in which we must bring, or “draft,” our own water supply, we train regularly to stay proficient in this critical skill set. The photos below are from a training we held the other day to practice getting water to a variety of our units for a variety of fires.

One of the pictures show Tanker 709 that holds 3,500 gallons of water.  The water is being dumped into a portable folding tank so that an engine can draft the water out of the tank and into its own tank so that it can flow water through the fire hose on the unit. 

The reason we dump the water into a portable tank, and not directly into the engine, is so the Tanker can go and get a refill of water from a designated location.

At Fire Station 9 we also have brush trucks for fighting brush fires.  They are smaller and more agile and can go across fields much easier than our engines.  In several of the photos below, Brush 709B is drafting water from the creek.  Our firefighters are pulling the water out of the creek, into its own water tank, and then using it. 

All personnel performed well on a beautiful day to train and ensure our operational readiness. 

photos of various fire units drafting water from a portable tank and creek

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