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Permalink Reply by John S-B on April 2, 2012 at 9:25pm

I'm  not sure what you are saying, are you saying you want to run an attack line off of a portable pump?  Most of them do not develop sufficient pressure for use as a fire attack line, they're more for water supply.

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Permalink Reply by Derek J Sinesi on April 2, 2012 at 10:15pm

Portable pumps are good for filling portable ponds and grass fires. The question here is are you talking a pressure pump or a trash pump makes a big difference. If you has a small fire you may get away with a portable pump but you are not going to get much water flow.

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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on April 3, 2012 at 12:56pm

I agree. Clarify your question Steve. Generally a portable pump is not going to give you enough flow.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Callahan on April 3, 2012 at 5:05pm

Unless you get a high pressure portable pump, you will not have enough pressure to run an attack line. The problem is that higher pressure portable pumps are generally low flow, and likely you will not be able to run much more than a 1" forestry line. Certainly they work well for that purpose, but are not designed for vehicular or structural firefighting.

 

The pumps that will give you the flow for an 1 3/4" or 2 1/2" line are not going to give you the pressure as they are designed to serve a supply purpose (multiple portable pumps into an engine or portables filling tankers directly).

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Permalink Reply by Steve Brisebois on April 5, 2012 at 3:35pm

thank you for your multiple response. To clarify further, I want to know what are the standard that refers to the minimum pressure to attack a fire with an attack line and is the standard Article and which indicates the minimum gallonage.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Callahan on April 9, 2012 at 2:34pm

NFPA does not, to the best of my knowledge, specify any pressure or flow requirements for fire attack.

 

That being said, I'm sure that in a court of law, as an example, if you were using a combination nozzle with a reccommended pressure of 100 PSI at the tip, that would be considered the standard to meet.  

 

Honestly, while I have seen portable pumps used as the primary pumps on home-made engines using primarily surplus military vehicles, I would not consider it as an acceptable practice for structural operations.

 

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