Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Andrew Salinger on October 26, 2010 at 6:02am

basically the only way to train is the way you are going to do it in a real situation. But you could try to simulate hose failures between trucks or from the water source. Could even throw in a pump failure situation.
Alot of it depends on how many pumps you have and how far you want to relay. You could also do it so that some of the trucks are using hand lines while still feeding the next truck up the line with the correct pressure, which means the pump before it needs to run at higher pressure to make up for the loss.
Communication during the set up is important
Hope this is of some help

Permalink Reply by Arthur S Collatz on March 6, 2011 at 12:58pm

remember charge lines to 90% of what hose was tested to. if LDH was tested to 200psi then you should not charge LDH to no more then 180 psi.

largest capacity pumper at water source.

don't let intake pressure drop below 20psi

if a line breaks, do not shut down untill opening another discharge to relief pressure.

Permalink Reply by ian wilcox on April 23, 2011 at 1:40pm

we have not tried this as of yet as we only have one pumper,but looking forward to trying it in a mutual aid scenario,when i was taking my firefighter 1 trainer course the one instructor had his three fire departments converge at the training ground and relayed three ladder trucks with monitors going on all three,he said that each successive truck had to increase pump presure to the next truck as they use the water they need to run the monitor on their truck,made for a nice picture pumping lots of water,

Permalink Reply by christopher r casteline on May 2, 2011 at 5:59pm

throw a ladder truck,ariel platform or 2 in the mix

Permalink Reply by August Martin on November 8, 2011 at 10:00am

We always find it difficult to effect actual pump triaining. We do complete pump training in classroom but when it comes to hands on training and doing it safely it requires manpower to man the nozzle and large  volumes of water.  The classroom instruction is important but without pumping and actual pump time the learning curve goes to the fireground in actual operations. After a great classroom theory, most of the time pump operation results in great training for nozzlemen and limited experience for the pump operator.

Focus on the pump training, eliminate the required manpower for nozzlemen and large volumes of water usage.  From basic pump operations,relay pumping to testing requirements for pumpers and hose, visit

firetrucktestinglc.com.

Use of a fold-da-tank 600 gallon for training 30000 gallon for testing, recirculate from draft, simulate two 1-3/4" and 2-1/2"" handlines. (train all day using the same water all lines are secure to provide a safe operation)  Your new pump operator now has the theory and a  hands on practicial application to flow continious water, safetly, efficiently with the instructors undivided attention.