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Haulin’ Water: Cement trucks are another option for transporting water

Story & Photos by Jeff Riechmann

Many fire departments use a variety of unique vehicles to haul water to support tanker shuttle operations. For volunteer fire departments, these vehicles often include Federal Excess Property Program fuel tenders. I’ve even seen some private companies working for railroads that are required to use a special water-tender railcar with water cannons to support any operations that have the potential of starting fire along the railroad right-of-way.


No matter where you live, there’s always the potential for that once-in-a-career fire that’s so significant that department apparatus, and even mutual-aid apparatus, may not be able to provide water fast enough to maintain 250 gpm for the duration of the fire. With this in mind, departments should preplan what other water-hauling resources are available within their response area.

Some sources that you may consider for acquiring water tenders in an emergency include rental equipment yards and construction sites. Additionally, there’s another source that is often overlooked: cement trucks. Find out where the nearest cement plant is. Also, you can find cement trucks traveling to and from construction sites, making deliveries.

All cement trucks have a 125-gallon water tank mounted to them for the purpose of hosing down the truck prior to returning to public roads after delivering their load. This tank is filled every time the truck is loaded and then pressurized by air from the vehicle’s airbrake system. There have been many instances where this tank has been used to knock down a fire prior to the fire department’s arrival.

The truck’s drum can hold 2,000 gallons of water. Depending on the location of the incident, the drum can be filled using the loading system at the ready-mix facility. They can also be loaded from a fire hydrant or other water source; however, this requires someone to climb the ladder on the truck and discharge the water stream into the drum from a hose. (Note: Prior to being reloaded, the trucks are hosed out. If there’s any gravel left in the tank, it will just sink to the bottom.)

To off-load the water, the drum is sent spinning. The inside of the drum is configured like a screw. When spinning in one direction, it mixes the concrete. When spinning in the opposite direction, it off-loads the concrete. So once the truck arrives at the scene of the incident, the drum is spun in the off-load direction, and the engine is throttled up to maximum rpm. At high speed, the entire load of water could be off-loaded in approximately 1 minute. The water is discharged down the chute, just like cement.

If you’re going to use a cement truck to haul water, you’re going to need a portable tank into which the water can be off-loaded and from which an engine can draft.

One consideration with these trucks: Even though they’re designed to be used at construction sites, they don’t like to go off-road, so you’ll need a fairly good access route. In other words, stick to the same type of route your engine would use.

Once at the dump site, the tank that will be receiving the water must be within 22 feet of the rear of the truck or within 13 feet of the side of the truck to off-load.

During a major firefighting operation, cement trucks can be a very valuable tool for hauling water. With a little bit of preplanning and some familiarization training, this vehicle can be another tool to place in your tool box.

Jeff Riechmann is a retired Kern County (Calif.) firefighter and Air Force Reserve deputy fire chief. He is currently the lead fire science instructor at Antelope Valley Medical College in Lancaster, Calif., and he can be reached at JeffAVMC@yahoo.com.