The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
High Pressure or High Volume for Brush Fires
Our dept has had the county buy brush units for our volunteer fire company for a few years. The one 4x4 pickup truck we bought in the 70s was a 3/4 ton unit and we put a 200 gal tank and high volume pump on the unit. We also had a home built brush guard which was great. The county step in and told us the unit was over weight. So the tank was size down to 150 gals and the brush guard lost the bottom part of the guard which was a 3 inch pipe.
Later we let the county purchase the replacement unit in their colors in the 80s. It was another 3/4 ton beefed up to 1 ton with a 100 gal tank and no brush guard but had a high volume pump. The crews notice they ran out of water faster so they modifed a 1 inch booster line and put a garden hose nozzel on it.
After a while this unit was replaced with a 2000 unit, this time a 1 ton with a front winch, cross the bed tool box and still a high volume pump, 125 gal tank and a garden hose nozzel.
There has been talk by members to buy our own unit. I have been researching and seen high pressure and low volume skid units for sell by different companies. I figure buy a good 1 ton or better unit with a good flatbed body go to a local fire apparatus rep in the area and have them build us a unit that will meet what we want.
I have seen some nice ideas from members of FFN and from apparatus builders with websites.
The thing is to have enough water and pressure to knock and reach the fire without having to chase it across the woods, fields or where ever we need to respond. Maybe even have a foam tank as a extra.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Bob Callahan on
-
We run 2 brush trucks, plus a third owned by the state at the National Guard facility we cover under contract. All 3 have standard high volume fire pumps capable of producing up to about 160 psi, with 250-300 gallon water tanks.
For the majority of our fires, the arrangement works well. That being said, if you are dealing with primarily light fuels - grasses and typical light fuel ground fires - my advice would be to try a high-pressure, low flow pump, such as those used on pressure washers. The flow required for these fires typically does not require a 3/4" booster line. I have seen a couple of departments that use this type of system and it seems to be quite effective both in terms of firefighting and water conservation.
However, if you use your brush truck for fires with a more significant fuel load on a regular bases, I would stick with a higher flow pump.
So my answer would be "it depends".
-
Permalink Reply by ashfire on
-
http://beanspray.net/2012/01/25/fire-killing-wollop-april-1964
Misspell one word and you don't get the right connection. Click on fire killing wollop.
-
Permalink Reply by Jim Conrad on
-
It depends for sure! I am thinking of my own area in montana. i really dont know how it is done the east or other areas. We tend to think out here that a brush truck with less than 300 gallons as pretty useless as we seem to use the water quite fast. a good running fire up here might cover 5 to fifteen miles an hour so we use a lot of water. the hand tools only get used for mop up. Our trucks use 18 to 23 hp v twins and carry 400 to 500 gals of water and it is scary how fast the water goes. I suppose that a high press pump would work on slower fires, we have two trailers with 300 gal tanks and pressure washer pumps with 5/8 line on a reel that we lend to ranchers for patrol and mop up and they seem to work quite well for that purpose.
-
Permalink Reply by Oldman on
-
This unit delivers about 20gpm @ 1500psi. I know the Air Force was testing a similar unit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPgaFk8RXZk
I am not a rep for this particular company, nor am I endorsing this product.
-
-
This a video which shows the helicopter IFEX use along with other uses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApI8IeaCkI8&feature=related
The other shows the inventer and some of the other ways IFEX is used.
-
Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
-
Replace the hose you have with adapters and forestry hose. That hose is lightweight and has enough volume and reach for most woods fires short of a crown fire.
If you want to add punch, don't add a foam tank. Buy a TFT Pro Pak unit plumbed for forestry hose. You can do direct attacks with 0.1% Class A foam (essentially just a wetting agent at that concentration) on small fires or go up as high as 3% with the medium expansion nozzle. At that concentration, you can apply the foam blanket as an indirect attack (instead of raking a line) and just let the fire burn to the foam barricade and self-extinguish.
-
Permalink Reply by Rick LePage on
-
IMO....Volume pumps are for tenders, pressure pumps are for wildland/brush trucks. Not ultra-high pressure like a pressure washer but 200-300psi and 60-100gpm. You need the pressure when pumping to a progressive hose lay up a hillside, 800 foot 1.5" main with 4 or 5 1" laterals. The volume pumps just don't get it done.
Use forest service hose, it's lighter, easier to handle and is less expensive to replace when you burn it up.
Garden hose and garden hose nozzels are fine for mop up but not attack lines. 10-20gpm nozzels do a much better job and have a longer reach.
If you have the budget for it CAFS really extends your capability. With CAFS your 250gal brush truck has suppression capabilities equal or better than a 1000gal non-CAFS truck.
For running grass fires a truck equipped with spray bars can really knock the fire down and buy you time.
Before you buy anything take the time to decide what you really intend to do with the apparatus. Be realistic and honest in your assessment and then buy/build what best suits your department.
-
Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on
-
Why not add a foam tank? With a flip of a switch EVERY line is a foam line.
We use Bubble Cup nozzles an can make foam from dishwater consitency to darn near shaving cream consistency.
-
-
Rick,
You are absolutely correct that you need to do an honest needs assessment and then buy/ build what suits your need.
There is such a wide variation of "Wildland fires" that there simply is no one size fits all. In my area most brush fires are fought with short lines off from either pick up truck based brush trucks or ATVs. Usually the trucks have either garden hose, booster lines, or 1 inch forestry hose. The ATVs most commonly have garden hose. Almost all brush fire vehicles have class A foam.
-
Permalink Reply by DAVID GONZALEZ on
-
High volume is better cuz if your out working on a line and you run out of water then that fire wont be contained.
-
-
Typical foam tank installs add weight, complexity, and cost. They tend to raise the center of gravity on the rig - a bad thing for off-road vehicles. They also make the pump plumbing more complex and increase maintenence issues.
If the foam in the tank isn't used, it tends to gum the proportioning/injection system up over time, too.
They also make it more difficult to refill during fires that require more foam than a single tank can provide.
Those foam systems typically have a single nozzle type, and that limits what kind of finished foam you get.
The TFT ProPak system has none of those limitations.
-
Permalink Reply by Russ Gregston on
-
Yeah that's why every Dept. of Forestry brush truck I've ever operated has one...
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
