Eno821302
08-19-2008, 05:18 AM
I was sitting here thinking about a number of things (ie: when's lunch?) and I started wondering about big unit fires at larger complexes, the equipment necessary (most of which would be on scene already in hose boxes or deployed by auxiliaries). It occurred to me that having your foam apparatus lay in close to such a calamity might box it in a position from which it may never be able to escape without driving over a dozen hoses that might be supporting efforts, exposures, crews... etc. My concern is that in the efforts to supply water and provide foam via a rather difficult to manoeuver foam tender- whether or not reverse laying to avoid the spiders web of LDH might have been an approved tactic... somewhere?
Logistically, we need to be able to get a large 7000 gallon foam tender trailer into the truck to supply foam- either that or a bunch of foam totes via forklift that moves approximately 1 mile per year. Our manpower is prohbitively scarse so I wonder if there might be some advantage. Do you want your big guns on exposures? Seems a guy from "a company who deals with sort of thing" discouraged using the big guns on fire tanks / modules because they can inspire collapse. Opinions?
In the big scheme of things, if your engine has a 5000gpm howitzer on the roof, but you have permanent monitors installed on site fed by an extraordinary water system- do you reverse lay into manifolds and stretch out your gear from those manifolds? Tie into lateral foam tubes with available hose in hose houses- stretch out siscos with those same pre-packaged units? Or do you keep your truck in close and take equipment off that? Reach of stream on our deck howitzer is about 300 feet at the appropriate angles. we also have a similarly capable trailor mounting another howitzer capable of >8000gpm (voiding the warranty, of course!). Positioning this distally as well seems to have its advantages because at least it protects your "crown jewels" in the event of something catastrophic or otherwise unmanageable from happening. If you're pulling people out of a danger area, it seems to me they should be pulling back to their apparatus... not pulling back and leaving the apparatus around- but not pulling the apparatus out at the expense of ceasing all activity (deployed ground monitors, pumping foam into the foam tubes or related deluge systems- whatever).
This is a very general question- sort of a "I wonder if anyone else does this or thought about this?"
Logistically, we need to be able to get a large 7000 gallon foam tender trailer into the truck to supply foam- either that or a bunch of foam totes via forklift that moves approximately 1 mile per year. Our manpower is prohbitively scarse so I wonder if there might be some advantage. Do you want your big guns on exposures? Seems a guy from "a company who deals with sort of thing" discouraged using the big guns on fire tanks / modules because they can inspire collapse. Opinions?
In the big scheme of things, if your engine has a 5000gpm howitzer on the roof, but you have permanent monitors installed on site fed by an extraordinary water system- do you reverse lay into manifolds and stretch out your gear from those manifolds? Tie into lateral foam tubes with available hose in hose houses- stretch out siscos with those same pre-packaged units? Or do you keep your truck in close and take equipment off that? Reach of stream on our deck howitzer is about 300 feet at the appropriate angles. we also have a similarly capable trailor mounting another howitzer capable of >8000gpm (voiding the warranty, of course!). Positioning this distally as well seems to have its advantages because at least it protects your "crown jewels" in the event of something catastrophic or otherwise unmanageable from happening. If you're pulling people out of a danger area, it seems to me they should be pulling back to their apparatus... not pulling back and leaving the apparatus around- but not pulling the apparatus out at the expense of ceasing all activity (deployed ground monitors, pumping foam into the foam tubes or related deluge systems- whatever).
This is a very general question- sort of a "I wonder if anyone else does this or thought about this?"