Irrigation Unit Modified to Fill Tankers Easily
Training Officer
Forada, Minn., Fire Department
What do you do when you live in a town of 158 people that has no water system but has an added 1000 people to protect over a 36-square-mile area? Well, you improvise as best you can and practice drafting from five different lakes until you are blue in the face.
When a member of the Forada, Minn., Fire Department was installing an irrigation system and well, we suggested putting a fire department connection on the system. He agreed to put in the connection at his expense and to make the system available to our department on a 24-hour, 365-day basis. The necessary valves and electrical circuits were installed in a short time and at minimal expense.
The system will pump 800 gpm at 80 psi. To alleviate any excess flow or pressure problems, an excess flow valve that dumps the water in the opposite direction from the department hookup was installed.
The system is quite easy to hook up to when the irrigation system is in operation. We merely connect a 2 1/2-inch hose to a valve and we have about 500 gpm at 60 psi. If the irrigation system is not in operation, a toggle switch places the system in the fire department operation mode. After hooking up the hose line, the master motor start switch is operated and then the valves are opened.
As shown in the accompanying photos, a member of the department doesn’t have to leave the ground to fill the tanker. A section of 2 1/2-inch hose is coupled to a 3-inch sewer pipe, which is merely set into the tank opening. Usually 100 feet of 2 1/2-inch hose is run to the system. The county road that is 150 feet from the pump system is plowed by the county crew during the winter.
The Forada Fire Department is 6 miles southeast of Alexandria and has 30 members. It operates a 1969 pumper, a 1970 1000-gallon tanker, a 1965 1500-gallon tanker and a Dodge 4X4.
