WILLOW SPRINGS, MISSOURI- While the rest of Howell County’s First Responders were completing a Multi-Agency Training Exercise on Tuesday Night; The Willow Springs Fire Department completed a separate training exercise related to accessing water supply and basic rural firefighting.
A key issue of fighting a structure fire is keeping a continuous supply of water moving. Some more modern fire-rescue crews rely of the tactic of “nurse-tanking.” This involves hooking one tanker directly to the fire-attack engine and waiting for it to pump dry before swapping to the next. However, the tactic can create bottleneck delays, slow down gallon per-minute delivery, and leaves handlines vulnerable in the case a line-swap hangs up.
Tuesday Night’s Exercise focused on a traditional fireground skill; establishing a high-volume, multi-tank portable draft-pump site.
By setting up multiple portable folding tanks in series, running jet siphons, and using low-level strainers with static draft setups; A continuous artificial reservoir is created on scene.
This training also helps with not having to wait for tanker trucks to arrive on scene, having uninterrupted attack lines, and creates a more efficient output supply.
