PREPLANNING WATER SUPPLIES
TRAINING NOTEBOOK
It’s late on a cold winter night, and the pagers sound for a structure fire at rural fire number B2000. Firefighters race to the scene to find a two-story farmhouse with two rooms involved. They enter the building for search and rescue while beginning an offensive attack. Ten minutes into the operation, problems arise. After the initial knockdown, the firefighters have exhausted their water supply and are waiting for water tankers to arrive. They watch in horror as spot fires rekindle and begin to totally engulf the structure.
This may just sound like a nightmare, but it has happened to many departments across the country that do not have the luxury’ of hydrant systems with large water mains. These departments must rely on other methods to provide adequate water supplies for their incidents. No matter what the method, it must provide enough “wet stuff” to completely extinguish the “red stuff.”
WHY PREPLAN?
Water supply problems are common among rural departments. Suburban and urban departments encounter the same problems when they must travel to the outskirts of their jurisdictions—where water supplies are not adequate. The key to providing adequate water supplies at the scene is preplanning.
Preplanning your water system is a very big but essential task. It should include all public and private water systems in your area, piped supplies, and static supplies such as lakes, ponds, creeks, rivers, wells, and any other large water sources. Your water preplan should be thorough and include all portions of your district.
A good preplan will provide adequate information so you can supply water to any incident in your district. It will help you establish an adequate water supply quickly and maintain that supply. It also will help you deal with water supply problems that may arise during an incident. In essence, a good water preplan helps alleviate problems before they arise.
CHECKING THE SYSTEMS
The first part of a water preplan involves checking your public water supply system. This must be a cooperative effort between your department and the water company or companies that serve your district. During the preplan, check each hydrant in the public water system.
Note the following for each hydrant:
- Location.
- Accessibility—do trees, bushes, or road signs block its use?
- Physical condition —rust, broken parts, or any other damage.
- Then do the following to each hydrant:
- Remove all caps. Lubricate all threads with a lubricant to ensure future openings.
- Thoroughly flush each hydrant.
- Flow test each hydrant.
- Color code each hydrant.
The fire department or water company should perform operational checks of hydrants annually. Document and repair all problems as soon as possible. To ensure good public relations, notify area residents before flushing and testing, as they often cause discolored water and low water pressure.
Document the data you gather from each hydrant for future reference. You can set up a simple card file system/data base file to document the information. Keep a complete set of the file cards or a copy of the data base file at the fire station, in the command vehicle, and at the water company offices. This way you can quickly access the information during incidents.
The data base file is your best bet if your department has access to a personal computer. You can tailor data base files to your department’s needs, and changes and updates are easy. Commercial software that is already set up for this type of application is also available.
Your final check of the public water system should include the water plant itself and the primary water supply. A basic background of the water plant (pumps, piping, mechanical, electrical), a map of the entire distribution system, and knowledge of procedures and personnel to contact at the water plant are very helpful information.
After checking the public piped water system, check the private piped water systems. This includes water lines that are privately owned by a homeowners group or water systems used by local manufacturing. Checking the hydrants on these lines requires cooperation between the owners and the fire department. Again, document all information and make repairs as soon as possible. During these checks, fire department personnel should go over their operating procedures with the owners. Even though the water system is private, the local fire department does have the right to access the water in an emergency. Many fire departments draw up formal written agreements with owners to avoid any legal complications.
After checking piped water systems, focus on the static water supplies. This includes all ponds, lakes, reservoirs, rivers, creeks, and wells, both public and private. Make a complete check of each water supply. The check should include at least the following information:
- Exact location of each source.
- Owner of land where source is located.
- Estimated amount of water available.
- Access roads to source—will the roads support your emergency vehicles?
- Access locations for draftingcan trucks draft directly, or will you need portable pumps?
- Condition of source during winter and summer months—does the source freeze heavily during winter or dry up during summer?
The fire department must work closely with the landowner, so again, it may also be helpful to draw up a formal agreement. Enter this documentation into a card file or data base file as well.
In rural areas static water sources will be a very important part of the water supply system. In a fire district that covers large land areas, the planning of the static water supply system will be very involved. Several sources may be available to help you locate your static water supplies. Local farm extension services that deal with area farmers, county and township highway departments, rural mail carriers, and conservation departments are excellent sources of information. Their personnel come in contact with the local landowners and will be able to point you in the right direction. Some rural departments have even taken aerial photographs of their districts. These bird’s-eye views offer excellent documentation, help locate sources you have missed, and also can reveal new shortcuts to your water supplies.
MAPPING WATER SUPPLIES
After checking all the water supplies in your district, map them. The map should include both hydrants and static water supplies. You can use different symbols for each type of water source. The map does not have to be greatly detailed. You can refer to your file card system for specifics. Place a copy of the map with your file card catalogs. If one large map is not practical, break the map up into zones for easier handling and readability.
Once your card file and maps are completed, you will find out how easy the system is to use. When you receive a call, find the incident location on the map. Then find the nearest water supply or supplies that will provide adequate water. Cross-reference the water source in the card file/ data base file for all the specifics. You have all the information you need in just a few minutes.
Plan for the future. Map out locations for future hydrants. Designate high flow rate hydrants as tanker fill stations. Mark these hydrants with a special color or sign to indicate their importance. It will be much easier for incoming mutual-aid tankers to find the fill stations with this system.
It is also a good idea to tag any fire hydrants that do not operate. This will save precious time during an incident. There is nothing worse than hooking up to a hydrant and having nothing come out.
Plan as you check the static water sources. Pick out key locations where dry hydrants could be installed in the future. Speak to landowners about the possibilities of installing dry hydrants in their lakes. Encourage landowners and local industry to install lakes with dry hydrants or other water supply systems on their properties. Look for locations that could be graded to provide easy access for drafting operations. Look for areas along main roads that could be drafting sites. These sites could possibly have a small parking lot for drafting and tanker shuttle operations. Look for areas along creeks and rivers where you could place portable pumps to draft water. Planning and cooperation from local landowners may lead to some excellent auxiliary water supplies.
Preplanning your water supplies is just the beginning. You will have to plan for getting the water to the fire. This may include tanker shuttles, relay pumping, large-diameter hoselays, portable pump operations, or a combination. Your department will have to set up equipment and standard operating procedures for the specific delivery techniques that are most beneficial and practical to the district. Differences in geography, manpower, equipment, finances, mutual-aid agreements, and other variables will dictate the water delivery techniques your department will use.
You’ve done the hardest part, however. You know where the water is. An adequate water supply system is the first step in fighting the fire. With a preplan, you can win that fight.
