LOUGHMAN (FL) — Polk County Fire Rescue held a grand opening Thursday morning for its fourth new station this year, WTSP.com reported. 

A fire official noted how the area had grown so much and how different it was from when he started. 

According to the Polk County Commission, $26 million has been committed to the next fiscal year’s budget to continue opening new stations.

Some residents in Lafayette want the city to find a different location for a new fire station saying they were promised 25 years ago to have the site remain as a green space, KLFY.com reported. 

The city-parish government has made a proposal to build the new station at Eastland Drive and Camelia Boulevard to replace the station at Montrose and Johnston Street, the report said.

A fire official said Fire Station 6 is not big enough (it can only hold one truck), and the property is not large enough to build what is needed, the report said.

One resident said the government promised that the area would remain a green space. There’s a resolution 065-97 that maintains that the green space would protect the integrity of the neighborhood, the report said.

A city official said the city hasn’t found any documents that says that the area can’t be used for a fire station and that’s why the city is in the process of putting a station there, according to the report.

By Andy Soccodato

Large-scale firefighting operations require supply pump operators to maximize the flow capabilities from the sources being used. When it’s a fire hydrant, this involves employing a heavy hydrant hookup.

Part 1 of this series examined the variables that affect a fire hydrant’s rated flow capacity—the residual main pressure and the number of outlets used on the hydrant. Part 2 examines the effects that pump operators can expect from double and triple tapped fire hydrants as well as the three major advantages of heavy hydrant operations (photo 1).

• Heavy Hydrant Hookups: Maximizing Hydrant Flows, Part 1
• High-Performance Hydrant Operations
• Maximizing Hydrant Flows Using 6-Inch Soft Suction
• Fire Hydrant Lubricant
• Ratcheting Fire Hydrant and Fittings Wrench
• Hydrant Booster System Brings Hydrants to Rural Areas
• Redundancy in Water Delivery

Supply Line Diameter

The hydrant outlet area is only one part of the puzzle when attempting to maximize hydrant flows. Another variable that must be evaluated when looking to achieve a hydrant’s full flow potential is the hoseline diameter attached to the hydrant outlets. It usually goes without saying that when connecting to the steamer port of the hydrant, the supply line of choice is large-diameter hose (LDH) (photo 2). However, when it comes to the 2½-inch side ports, many firefighters believe that 2½-inch or 3-inch hose is all that is required. These same firefighters are often surprised when the available flow rate from the hydrant barely increases after connecting with medium-diameter hose.

When attempting to maximize hydrant flow rates, we must remember that fluids follow the path of least resistance. When double tapping a fire hydrant and attaching a 5-inch LDH line to the steamer port and a 2½-inch line to the side port, the majority of the total water flow from the hydrant will be through the 5-inch line. This is simply because there is less friction, or resistance, through the 5-inch line compared to the 2½-inch line; the water wants to follow the path of least resistance. In this scenari

The last of more than 1,195 defibrillators have been delivered to CFA districts as part of the rollout of life-saving equipment to every fire truck and operational vehicle.

The devices were purchased using more than $2.5 million of community donations to the CFA Brigades Donations Fund and the CFA Public Fund.

A CFA official said the installation of defibrillators to every CFA Brigade and Group vehicle will help better protect volunteer firefighters and Victorian communities.

For more on this story, please go to NationalTribune.com.au