Front inlets have been a way of life for me on most apparatus that I have been fortunate enough to ride or operate. Originally, these front inlets consisted of a fixed pipe in the center of the front bumper with a storage tray underneath to hold the length of hose desired by the department or company. This fixed pipe in the center was made possible mostly by the fixed cabs of that era. With the manufacturers having to meet the new engine requirements, the fixed cabs went away. This forced departments that still wanted a front inlet to run it up the side of the rig and into the side of their choice on the bumper. The inlet could sit on top of the bumper with a swivel attached, or a current trend is to run the fixed pipe straight through the bumper. Either way, I feel that the front inlet is a good option to have on your apparatus.

WATER ON THE FIRE

Engine companies have one main job: to receive water and to pump water out and put water on the fire. If we look at just the receiving part, the front inlet is a great way to get water into the pump. The skill of positioning the rig to use the front inlet is something that has to be practiced by those who drive the rigs. The challenge of positioning for the front inlet can be greatly reduced with a top-mounted inlet with a swivel. The swivel assists the operator in reducing kinks, and with enough practice and ingenuity, he can produce a series of operational positioning and hookups that can benefit the fireground and later-arriving apparatus.

CONSIDERATIONS

Most of the front inlets I have been exposed to have been the same size as the side inlets on the fire pump—six inches. The inlet, regardless of being a straight pipe through the bumper or on top with a swivel, usually ended as a male thread. This just required the department to purchase the soft sleeve hose of its desired length with a six-inch female swivel on one end and usually the female swivel on the other with the size thread of the local hydrants. Of course, many rural departments that use the front inlet could also just have a section of hard sleeve or suction hose attached to the inlet with a drafting adapter on the other end. Both types of setups are based on a department’s operating procedure, water supply options, and geographic response areas.

The front inlet placed on your rig can sometimes be a contested item. It is an expensive item with all the piping and valves associated with it, along with all the drains that need to be placed on it to assist in drafting and to remove the water during cold weather. The pipe that runs up the side of the rig from the pump usually takes a path through the engine’s wheel well area. This pipe position can possibly affect the turning radius of your rig depending on the size of the pipe and the manufacturer’s engineering. So, consider the advantages of the front inlet related to the cramp angle of your rig. Only your response area and street configuration can determine that decision for your department.

There are some arguments about the number of bends in the pipe and how it might relate to friction loss and full flow to the pump. I agree that there might be some loss, but the advantage of positioning the engine while using the front suction outweighs the negative of the flow issue. If the operator feels like he needs the full flow of the hydrant, then he should place hydrant gates on the spuds of the hydrant. That way if they need to d