By Bill Adkins
Shuttling water is a right of passage when fighting fire in rural communities. When hydrants are not available, we must use tankers/tenders to shuttle the water from either a hydrant miles away or find a nearby static water source. To effectively shuttle water from either choice you need to have the proper equipment ready for the task.
Not all departments have in their budget to build a top-of-the-line type of tanker. Depending on the departments current resources, sometimes all that is needed is a chassis and a tank. Either way, you will not want to simply tell a manufacture to sell you a tanker that fits their needs. It is time to tell the manufacture to sell you a tanker that will work best for your needs.
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Taking a closer look of functions a shuttling tanker will do. 1) Dumping its water into a dump tank. 2) Receiving water from a hydrant or from a fill site apparatus and 3) Possibly driving or backing down narrow roadways and driveways.
Dumping Water
Tankers should be able to dump water on three sides of the apparatus (usually rear and both sides). You will see some tankers have electronic or pneumatic controlled dumps that can easily be dumped from the cab of the truck. This makes for the ability to dump from multiple sides into multiple tanks at the same time. I would recommend getting the largest dump valve you can afford. Another option is to get multiple dumps on each side. This allows you to dump at a quicker rate. Again the goal here is to dump as quickly as you can so you can return to the fill site.
If you are building a tanker on a budget, ordering electronic or pneumatic dumps may not be an option for you, however you are still able to order a dump that allows you to dump on all sides. One option is the Newton swivel dump. This is one of the most cost-effective options currently in the industry today.
Receiving Water
Setting your tanker to receive water depends on what supply line you and your mutual aid departments use. Take the time to think of your neighboring departments when ordering your fittings. Even if you normally use LDH doesn’t mean you will always use LDH on every water shuttle. Depending on your personnel LDH, even though it flows more water, may not be the most practical. For example, in rural areas we do not always have the option to have all our members that are young, strong, and physically fit. It may be more practical for your shuttle tanker to have multiple 2 ½- or 3- inch inlets ins