From the Publishers Desk
Keeping Up to Date In Fire Engineering
It hardly seems all that long ago since Fire Engineering published its first articles on extra-large-diameter hose, but it must have been at least 10 years. So it was interesting to read the article on page 27 that was written for us by Wesley L. Melo, who is the training officer of the Huntsville, Texas, Volunteer Fire Department. Melo brings us up to date on this big hose, noting that improvements in materials used in its manufacture have made “handling, deployment and use relatively easy.”
Melo further notes in his article that departments which use large-diameter hose can improve the deployment capability of each company, and tells us that one 5-inch hose delivers a volume of water approximately equivalent to six 2 ½-inch lines or four 3-inch lines. We won’t get into the more technical details of this article (we are not a qualified pump operator). But our editors tell us that it is well written and highly informative and useful to our readers—which is what Fire Engineering is all about.
Melo also tells of his experience in McCloud, Calif., back in 1977 (our contributors really do get around) in which the tactical efficiency of a pumper equipped with large-diameter hose knocked down a severe fire in about five minutes.
Water also is the theme for another interesting article in this issue, not so much from the hydraulics viewpoint (although it does play a part) hut the code-making side out in Santa Barbara County, Calif. Developers desiring to build a commercial or industrial structure where no public water system exists or where a water moratorium is in effect, must install an approved automatic sprinkler system if the structure exceeds 5000 square feet. What with droughts and Proposition 13s, this could probably be a wave of the future.
Anyway we thought we’d let you know that we keep trying to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the fire service (as always).
