By Mark E. Davis

On October 22-23, 2016, Chief Ira Walker Jr. and members of the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department, lin Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, had the opportunity to display their water hauling skills during a weekend rural water supply training seminar sponsored by the department. The 16-hour seminar covered all aspects of hauling water with tankers.

The weekend began with a classroom session on Saturday morning that reviewed and discussed such topics as fire flow demand, Insurance Services Office (ISO) water supply criteria, types of water hauling vehicles, modes of operation, drafting operations, dump site setup operations, and fill site operations. Saturday afternoon brought practical skill sessions on dump site and fill site operations.

1 Engine 54-4 from the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department, in Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, is a 2015 Sutphen pumper equipped with a 2,250-gpm Hale XS pump. (Photos by author.)

On Sunday morning, crews conducted more practical skill sessions on dump site and fill site operations. The seminar culminated Sunday afternoon with a two-hour tanker shuttle exercise where the goal was to deliver an uninterrupted 500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) flow for two hours. The two-hour exercise is really the “old” ISO two-hour water supply drill where fire departments could demonstrate their ability to haul water in their nonhydranted areas to meet the ISO’s needed fire flows for target hazards within the community. Even though the ISO has moved to computer modeling in lieu of the two-hour drill, the drill is still a good assessment of a department’s ability to initiate and sustain a water supply operation using tankers.

Conducting the Drill

The two-hour drill comprises three time segments. The first segment lasts for five minutes and is sometimes referred to as “setup time.” Time starts on the first engine’s arrival at the designated drill site. At the five-minute mark, that engine must begin flowing water at a rate of 250 gpm-generally through some type of attack line.

The second segment of the drill lasts 10 minutes (minutes five through 15 of the drill). During this segment, water supply operations are allowed to expand using additional personnel and equipment. At the end of the 10-minute segment, the participants can increase the flow to whatever they wish. However, that flow must then be sustained for the remainder of the two-hour period.

2 Engine 54-4’s pump panel is laid out for ease of operation, including the suction inlet control valves and their corresponding air primer controls.

The third and final segment of the drill lasts 105 minutes. During this time period, the flow must not be interrupted or reduced. When the ISO used to require this drill, an interruption in flow resulted in drill failure. During training seminars, interruptions in flow and changes in flow rates are accepted as part of the learning process, and the drill continues to allow participants to overcome problems.

During the Eureka seminar, units and personnel from numerous department

By Mark E. Davis

On October 22-23, 2016, Chief Ira Walker Jr. and members of the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department, lin Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, had the opportunity to display their water hauling skills during a weekend rural water supply training seminar sponsored by the department. The 16-hour seminar covered all aspects of hauling water with tankers.

The weekend began with a classroom session on Saturday morning that reviewed and discussed such topics as fire flow demand, Insurance Services Office (ISO) water supply criteria, types of water hauling vehicles, modes of operation, drafting operations, dump site setup operations, and fill site operations. Saturday afternoon brought practical skill sessions on dump site and fill site operations.

1 Engine 54-4 from the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department, in Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, is a 2015 Sutphen pumper equipped with a 2,250-gpm Hale XS pump. (Photos by author.)

On Sunday morning, crews conducted more practical skill sessions on dump site and fill site operations. The seminar culminated Sunday afternoon with a two-hour tanker shuttle exercise where the goal was to deliver an uninterrupted 500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) flow for two hours. The two-hour exercise is really the “old” ISO two-hour water supply drill where fire departments could demonstrate their ability to haul water in their nonhydranted areas to meet the ISO’s needed fire flows for target hazards within the community. Even though the ISO has moved to computer modeling in lieu of the two-hour drill, the drill is still a good assessment of a department’s ability to initiate and sustain a water supply operation using tankers.

Conducting the Drill

The two-hour drill comprises three time segments. The first segment lasts for five minutes and is sometimes referred to as “setup time.” Time starts on the first engine’s arrival at the designated drill site. At the five-minute mark, that engine must begin flowing water at a rate of 250 gpm-generally through some type of attack line.

The second segment of the drill lasts 10 minutes (minutes five through 15 of the drill). During this segment, water supply operations are allowed to expand using additional personnel and equipment. At the end of the 10-minute segment, the participants can increase the flow to whatever they wish. However, that flow must then be sustained for the remainder of the two-hour period.

2 Engine 54-4’s pump panel is laid out for ease of operation, including the suction inlet control valves and their corresponding air primer controls.

The third and final segment of the drill lasts 105 minutes. During this time period, the flow must not be interrupted or reduced. When the ISO used to require this drill, an interruption in flow resulted in drill failure. During training seminars, interruptions in flow and changes in flow rates are accepted as part of the learning process, and the drill continues to allow participants to overcome problems.

During the Eureka seminar, units and personnel from numerous department

By Carl J. Haddon

I never cease to be shocked and appalled at the number of line-of-duty deaths and career-ending, life-altering injuries that occur as a result of first responders (and towing personnel) being struck by vehicles while working at accident scenes.

These horrifying work-related tragedies are happening as we speak on roads, highways, freeways, and streets all across America. Although the odds of being struck are much greater on a frequently traveled, high-speed roadway such as an interstate or a freeway, country roads and two-lane highways are certainly NOT immune from these types of incidents.

Doing Everything We Can

As we say so often in the fire service, “Prevention is key.” There is only so much that we can do to prevent a “D driver” (drunk, distracted, disabled, or dumb) from wiping us out on the scene of a wreck. However, are we really doing all we can to remain safe while working on the roadways of our respective response areas? Even more to the point is the question: Are we adjusting our traffic incident management protocols to account for wet, snowy, icy, and foggy winter road conditions?

1 Winter weather conditions offer us some challenges that bear taking a look at to make sure that we adjust our operations accordingly to compensate for the added dangers that accompany them. (Photos by author.)

I assume that everyone reading this article adequately and properly positions fire, law enforcement, towing, and even emergency medical services (EMS) vehicles or ambulances as “blockers” between the scene of the incident and the oncoming traffic. Surely the days of chief officers and fire commissioners not wanting to expose fire apparatus to traffic as blockers are long gone. Although it may not be easy, we can always replace trucks, engines, law enforcement vehicles, and chief’s cars. We can never replace YOU or anyone on your crew.

Winter weather conditions offer us some challenges that bear taking a look at (again and again) to make sure that we adjust our operations accordingly to compensate for the added dangers that accompany them. Because not everyone in the country has freeways, and not everyone has country roads, let’s use an interstate highway as our test subject.

Traffic Incident Management

I was one of the original group of instructors who took the federal traffic incident management (TIM) train-the-trainer class in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I share that with you mostly because it dawned on me that after all of the TIM classes I’ve done, there is no actual provision in the class for adjusting operations for winter or inclement weather. I am guilty of “doing it the way we always do it because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Do you adjust things such as the positioning of your apparatus as blockers to compensate for wet, icy, and snowy roads? Are your traffic control folks aware of the need for changes in their practices in these types of conditions? I personally believe that those who have the most dangerous jobs at a winter accident scene are traffic control personnel-the well-meaning folks (often fire police, volunteers, or bystanders) who risk their lives with safety vests and “stop/slow” signs-and towing personnel.

It seems obvious that a traffic control person has an understanding that motorists approaching an accident on dr

By Carl J. Haddon

I never cease to be shocked and appalled at the number of line-of-duty deaths and career-ending, life-altering injuries that occur as a result of first responders (and towing personnel) being struck by vehicles while working at accident scenes.

These horrifying work-related tragedies are happening as we speak on roads, highways, freeways, and streets all across America. Although the odds of being struck are much greater on a frequently traveled, high-speed roadway such as an interstate or a freeway, country roads and two-lane highways are certainly NOT immune from these types of incidents.

Doing Everything We Can

As we say so often in the fire service, “Prevention is key.” There is only so much that we can do to prevent a “D driver” (drunk, distracted, disabled, or dumb) from wiping us out on the scene of a wreck. However, are we really doing all we can to remain safe while working on the roadways of our respective response areas? Even more to the point is the question: Are we adjusting our traffic incident management protocols to account for wet, snowy, icy, and foggy winter road conditions?

1 Winter weather conditions offer us some challenges that bear taking a look at to make sure that we adjust our operations accordingly to compensate for the added dangers that accompany them. (Photos by author.)

I assume that everyone reading this article adequately and properly positions fire, law enforcement, towing, and even emergency medical services (EMS) vehicles or ambulances as “blockers” between the scene of the incident and the oncoming traffic. Surely the days of chief officers and fire commissioners not wanting to expose fire apparatus to traffic as blockers are long gone. Although it may not be easy, we can always replace trucks, engines, law enforcement vehicles, and chief’s cars. We can never replace YOU or anyone on your crew.

Winter weather conditions offer us some challenges that bear taking a look at (again and again) to make sure that we adjust our operations accordingly to compensate for the added dangers that accompany them. Because not everyone in the country has freeways, and not everyone has country roads, let’s use an interstate highway as our test subject.

Traffic Incident Management

I was one of the original group of instructors who took the federal traffic incident management (TIM) train-the-trainer class in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I share that with you mostly because it dawned on me that after all of the TIM classes I’ve done, there is no actual provision in the class for adjusting operations for winter or inclement weather. I am guilty of “doing it the way we always do it because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Do you adjust things such as the positioning of your apparatus as blockers to compensate for wet, icy, and snowy roads? Are your traffic control folks aware of the need for changes in their practices in these types of conditions? I personally believe that those who have the most dangerous jobs at a winter accident scene are traffic control personnel-the well-meaning folks (often fire police, volunteers, or bystanders) who risk their lives with safety vests and “stop/slow” signs-and towing personnel.

It seems obvious that a traffic control person has an understanding that motorists approaching an accident on dr