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Busted High-Pressure Hose on Brush Fire
We had a brush fire earlier tonight we turned up the pressure to like 250 PSI and it blew a hole into the side of the house about a foot or foot and a half behind the nozzle.Have you all experienced that problem before?You'd think a high pressure hose line should be able to withstand the pressure.Comments are greatly appreciated.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brandon Guttery on
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We have forestry hose blow on occasion ........ how old was the hose? when was it last pressure tested?
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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The hose may have had an abrasion on it or may have been exposed to heat at one time. We occasionally have forestry lines blow after they've be dragged through embers.
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Permalink Reply by John L. VanAuken on
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Well first off, I'm not to sure of the pressure you all had set, 250 seems like a lot. I know on our brush trucks we may get 150 psi max. On our engines, I dont even know of a dept that runs over 150 psi on 1" ]1/2 attack lines. I would sure like to see an avrrage joe hold any hose by him self at 250 psi on a brush fire. Just seems like over kill to me, I do hope a full timer on here with a BLM or Forest Service crew, could answer this better. I might just learn somethen as well, but that high of pressure just dosent seem right.
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Permalink Reply by FF Nick on
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Why would one need that much pressure when dealing with a brush fire in the first place? Unless for protecting a structure but even then... Sounds like maybe ya'll had some forestry line out and just needed a bit more to reach a smidgen of fire so another section wouldn't need to be added.
When dealing with pressures that high one can expect a hose to fail especially 1" forestry line. It gets dragged, snagged, hooked, snatched, yanked, caught, etc etc more than any of the other hoses in service. My only concern would be if the guy holding it sustained any injury when it blew. There's much safer practices than running a handline up to that much pressure especially when there are firemen in the area of where the blow was...
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Permalink Reply by CHIEF NORMAN on
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Well first of all most of your Key hose thats double jacketed fire hose is rated up to 800 psi, that is the manufactures burst pressure. On the Good year 1" red line that most depts run on there brush trucks thats rated at 800 psi, now take notion that if that hose is dragged upon the fire line or lays upon hot coals your hose testing within your department needs to be done more often with complete visual inspection. according to ISO your fire hose needs testing to be done at least twice a year if not more often and if this is not SOP or SOG, make it and keep records! Your high pressure 1/2 hose that some use as a light containment hose or back in the trees and mop up stages that hose is rated at 600 psi and follows the same ground on your testing. The Niedner or Reetex booster hose is rated at 600psi but due to the fact of the fire rating it diminishes with heat directed upon the hose, so it will burn. I hope this helps brother and be safe...
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Permalink Reply by Steve Howard on
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Too many unanswered questions to tell you for sure if it is normal (or at least expected.) What kind of "high pressure" hose is it? The old John Bean HP hose was tested up to 2,000 psi but there shouldn't be too much of that lying around anymore. If it is, that is probably the problem as it is most likely rotted.
Even single jacket forestry hose is proof tested to 600 psi and service tested to 300 psi. That being said, if the hole is a foot behind the nozzle and you don't rotate your hose loads, that is going to be the most heavily used section of hose. Add all the abuse it gets getting dragged through rocks, stumps and hot spots, we get leaks in our forestry hose all of the time. They are almost considered disposable hose here (which is why we get it so cheaply, compared to double jacket structural hose.) The light weight makes it well worth it when you are putting in long progressive hose lays.
250 psi isn't all that unusual either for brush fires. If we are running long trunk lines off of a Mark 3 pump, high pressures are pretty common. I have seen hose lays up 500 foot hills here that had 250 at the pump just due to gravity. If you ever want to see friction loss in action, work some wildland fires out here in the western US. 1,000 foot 1 1/2" trunk lines are pretty common on bigger project fires.
If you are running that kind of pressure on a 200 foot preconnect line though, someone should check out the S-211 Portable Pumps and Water Use for wildland firefighting course. I can't think of a reason to do that. Most of it is up close working from the flanks or black. I could be missing something though, it wouldn't be the first time.
JM2C. Steve
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Permalink Reply by charles on
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WELL YOU NEED TO TEST ALL OF YOU HOSE. WHAT SIZE HOSE ARE WORKIN WITH? 1 1/2 HOSE IS GOOD FOR I.A BRUSH FIRE AND 1 INCH IS GOOD FOR MOP UP. AND ONE MORE THING TEST THE HOSE AT 300 PSI. ANY ?'S HIT ME UP.
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Permalink Reply by Pararescue on
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Even with pressure testing, dry rot can set in pretty quickly. It's just one of those things, ya know? And if your using foam and the line happens not to flush all the way.... boom. Just a few thoughts.
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Permalink Reply by Barry Copley on
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I think we'd only had the hose a couple of months at most.We use that Rubber crap.lol thats the problem if ya ask me.
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we had 3 sections and its 2 and a half inch hose.I've never seen them tested as long as I've been on the department but I believe they were fairly new hose lines.
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We normally don't fight brush fires unless they are close to a residence,which in this case was.We run 2 and a half inch hose lines.We usually use 2 men to hold a hose if we have the man power.I usually throw the nozzle over my shoulder which I know is not "By The Book" as some would say.But its also that rubber junk if you ask me the rubber is not as good as the cloth.
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