BY JASON ESTEP
Since mankind began fighting fire, through all the advances of technology, one thing has remained
common in the fight: WATER.
Through out the history of fire fighting no one has found a better weapon to remove the heat from a fire than
water. Sure there have been tremendous advances in the different types of fire fighting foams, but foam is used
as an additive to water to increase its knockdown power.
Rural departments around the country have always felt the need to conserve water on the fire ground due to
the lack of sufficient water supplies. Compound this problem with the fact that many departments can not afford
to commit the people to conduct an efficient tanker shuttle to meet the needed fire flow.
As a member of the Morrisvale Vol. Fire Department, I understand these problems first hand. There are
currently no hydrants in the fire district and we had been trying to provide adequate water to fire scene using
conventional tanker shuttles. We would practice every drill night and we were getting good, or so we thought, at
shuttling water from point A to point B. The problem was that on a fire once we had committed everyone to the
tanker shuttle, we had no one left to fight the fire. As you can imagine this was a major hurdle. We tried to
pre-connect everything we possibly could in order to save time and people, but it was a wasted effort.
It was about this time that we were looking to replace our small home made tanker with a newer unit. Our
officers spent countless hours researching the different types of tankers that were available. Then one day our
Chief, Doug Estep, picked up a magazine and seen a company claiming they had a tanker that had the
capability of filling 2000 gallons itself in about a minute and a half. The department was very skeptical, but we
decided it was something that had to be looked into. The Chief contacted the company, FIROVAC® POWER
SYSTEMS, and spoke with owner Larry Reber. Larry told us of all the great things that his tankers could do.
We told him to prove it. Larry setup a demonstration at departments who were already using the trucks.
Once we watched the trucks operate we realized that we had found something that would help solve some of
our problems. Of course always trying to watch our limited funding, we contacted other manufacturers of vacuum
apparatus. We found out real quick that no one else in the country built a vacuum tanker that would even come
close to the performance and workmanship of FIROVAC®. To make a long story short, we purchased the truck
from FIROVAC®.
After receiving our truck we realized immediate benefits from this. Now instead of committing the entire
department to water supply operations, we were now able to send two people in the tanker to supply the fire
ground with a sufficient water supply. With the capability of approximately 28’ vertical lift it made water available
to us that was never available before. We were so convinced of the FIROVAC® concept that we recently took
delivery of our second FIROVAC® about two years ago.
A perfect example of the effectiveness of the FIROVAC® tanker was at the Lincoln County Fire School, located
in Hamlin, WV, in the spring of 2002. Our chief and training officer were teaching a rural water movement class
at the school and incorporated portable pumps, conventional tankers, and FIROVAC® tankers into the class.
We had 2 conventional tankers, a class A 1250 GPM pumper to fill them and the 2 vacuum tankers. This entire
class was to take place out of a small stream by construction dams and so fourth. The only area that we focused
on was the fill time, since most tankers can dump at about the same rate and travel time is constant, we see the
fill time as the only area that can be improved in order to maximize the flow rate of a shuttle.
Filling the conventional tankers in an efficient manner took quite an effort. One 1250 GPM pumper, two 2500
gallon dump tanks, two float pumps, 20’ of 6” suction hose, a 5” hard suction used as a transfer tube between
dump tanks and hose ranging from 2.5” to 5”. Twelve people had to be committed to the water shuttle in order to
make it run smoothly. Since the stream that was being used had a good water flow, but was very shallow we had
to construct a makeshift dam in order to utilize the water. Two float pumps were set in the stream with one 3”
line coming into three 2.5” to 5” hose manifold. The 5” hose was then ran to the second dump tank.
Click to enlarge
A siphon was connected to a piece of 5” hard suction and a 1.5” line from the pumper was connected to the
siphon. This setup was used to transfer water from tank 2 to tank 1. Once both tanks were full we began to fill
the conventional tankers with 2 – 3” lines with quick connect cam-lock fittings in order to save connection time.
The pump operator was then instructed to pump the fill lines at no more than 100 PSI due to the manufacturer
warranty on most tanks.
While we accomplished the goal of filling the tankers to achieve somewhat usable amount of a flow rate, you
have to look at the sacrifices made in order to achieve the flows. During the conventional tanker shuttle we
instructed the drivers of the two FIROVAC® vacuum tankers and a helper to go up stream from us and lay all 88’
of 6” suction hose carried between the trucks out to the stream. No dam was constructed. Instead a FIROVAC®
low flow strainer was used in approximately 4” of water. After the tanker shuttle was completed everyone was
invited over to watch the FIROVAC® tankers operate. The FIROVAC® operation was allotted a total of 3 people
to operate the 2 tanker drivers and a helper to connect and disconnect the suction hose, which means that only
2 people were committed per truck. The newest FIROVAC® tanker (361) was the first to fill. The clock was
started as soon as the hose was connected to the truck. It took the FIROVAC® tanker 2 minutes and 24
seconds to fill 2000 gallons of water through 88’ of suction hose.That is a fill rate of 833 GPM! The second
FIROVAC® tanker (363) then began to fill. Its fill time through the same hose was identical to the first tanker, 2
minutes and 24 seconds. That is a flow rate of over 1666 Gallons Per Minute.
Remember that three people achieved all this. I challenge any tanker or pumper/tanker to do this by itself with
such a minimal crew. As long as the vertical lift does not exceed 28’ (depending on elevation) the FIROVAC® is
limited only by the amount of hose that it can carry. This makes water available that could never be used with
out a FIROVAC® tanker. After filling through 88’ of hose we then moved to the 2500-gallon dump tank that was
set up for the conventional shuttle. The FIROVAC® tankers filled 2000 gallons of water through 10’ of hose in
about 1 minute still with only 2 people per truck, including the driver.
In comparing the FIROVAC® tankers versus the conventional tankers I can find no advantages to conducting a
conventional tanker shuttle. The advantages using a FIROVAC® tanker are obvious. Superior fill and flow rates
using less tankers, less people involved which means more people on the fire ground fighting the fire, less
equipment involved which means cheaper maintenance and more equipment on the fire ground and the fill
pumper now becomes the backup pumper on scene. So why should we continue to attempt to fulfill rural water
needs with conventional tankers?
Can your department afford to commit 12 people to a tanker shuttle? Do you currently conserve water on the
fire ground to avoid the embarrassment of running out? Do you have water that is currently inaccessible by
your conventional trucks? If you answered the questions truthfully then your department could benefit from a
FIROVAC® tanker.
WWW.FIROVAC.COM
1-800-796-2588
