BY ARMAND F. GUZZI JR.
Every engine company has an onboard water supply or booster tank that, if used correctly, will allow you to knock down large volumes of fire very quickly. This booster tank is an exceptional tool in your firefighting arsenal.
For the standard fire engine, the minimum required booster tank capacity is 300 gallons, although 500-gallon tanks are more common, and some apparatus have even larger tanks. The advantages and limitations of a 500-gallon booster tank and how firefighters can maximize its effectiveness are outlined below.
A truck company firefighter who carries a 2½-gallon water extinguisher can tell you just how valuable those couple of gallons of water are. You can quickly deploy the extinguisher and use it to extinguish small incipient fires and even hold a small fire back long enough for other firefighters to do a quick search or close the door to the fire area.
The 500 gallons in the booster tank will also go a long way at the more typical fires to which you respond. Understanding just how far this water supply will go and knowing the hazards of relying on it alone are critical to your safety.
Tank water offers the advantages of speed and punch. Using tank water to begin an attack allows you to deliver water to the fire quickly, thus reducing the fire’s ability to intensify or spread. Once water is flowing, you have two to three minutes of a very heavy punch. Regardless of the nozzle used, a 1¾-inch line should flow at least 150 gallons per minute (gpm); a 2½-inch handline, at least 250 gpm. The math alone will tell you that the 1¾-inch line will last a little more than three minutes at this rate, assuming the nozzle team keeps the line open continuously.
Let’s look at a typical scenario. On arrival, your engine company sees heavy fire showing from two windows on the second floor, A/B corner of the end unit of a row of four townhouses. The fire area is a bedroom with extension into the hallway. A visible column of smoke dictates that responders hook up to a hydrant en route. The engine then passes the fire building and quickly stretches a 1¾-inch line into the building. The nozzle team calls for water at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor; the engine chauffeur charges the line using tank water. The engine chauffeur now concentrates on establishing a sustained water supply with the help of the firefighter at the hydrant.
The nozzle team now relies on a “move-stop-hit” strategy. Moving to the top of the stairs, they stop, open the line up using a straight or solid stream (depending on the nozzle type), and hit the hot fire gases collecting at the ceiling in front of them for five to 10 seconds. Lowering the temperatures at the upper levels significantly enhances members’ safety. The members then move down the hallway another 10 feet, stop, and hit the ceiling in front of them for another 10-second burst. From a position just outside the bedroom, the nozzle team delivers another 10- to 20-second blast of water.
The nozzle team then moves into the bedroom to completely knock down the fire. Immediately afterward, the team will stop, look, and listen; maybe it will have to open the line again for another few seconds. At about this time, the engine chauffer has established a water supply from the hydrant and immediately refills the onboard water tank.
Fortunately for the nozzle team members, this fire had self-vented prior to their arrival. Had fire not been showing, a truck company firefighter assigned to the outside vent position, working in close coordination with the interior engine company, would take out the windows prior to the company’s advance. This vent point would offer an avenue for smoke, heat, and steam to escape.
In this scenario, how much water did the team use? For this initial attack, the nozzle team used about a minute’s worth of water (about 150 gallons) and still has several hundred gallons remaining (photo 1).
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| (1) Fire in one room of an occupied residential building is the ideal target for an aggressive interior attack using a 1¾-inch handline initially supplied by a booster tank. Relying on a “move-stop-hit” strategy with a high flow allows you to knock down large volumes of fire while at the same time extending the duration of your limited water supply. (Photos by Doug Rowell.) |
Remember that you must deliver the maximum amount of water within the shortest time as safely as possible. From a safety aspect, remember that although tank water offers a great advantage, it is finite! It is therefore imperative that the engine chauffeur send a “water-remaining” transmission at the half- and one-quarter tank levels and make sure the transmission is acknowledged: “Engine 1 chauffeur to Engine 1, you have half a tank remaining.”
However, if the engine is unable to establish a sustained water supply because hydrants are frozen, vandalized, or entirely lacking, then you may have to restrict interior operations.
The engine company’s booster tank water can be a real lifesaver if used effectively. It can enhance life safety and stop a fire in its earliest stages with impressive knockdown power and thus enable you to use less water.
Because booster tank water is limited, you should supply only a single line, until a sustained water supply is provided. If you overlook this, you will rapidly deplete your onboard water supply. For example, if you back up a 1¾-inch handline with a 2½-inch handline, the onboard supply wouldn’t last long and may leave members in a potentially dangerous environment. Where a backup line is needed, a second engine establishing a secondary water supply and stretching the backup line will significantly increase your members’ safety. This concept offers redundancy and is added insurance.
Using the booster tank water, you can also easily handle outdoor fires involving rubbish, abandoned vehicles, as well as numerous smaller nuisance fires involving garbage cans, leaves, or debris by quickly applying water. Moreover, be aware that these outdoor fires may spread to adjoining exposures; rapidly applying tank water through a handline will stop these fires quickly (photo 2).
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| (2) Workers were stripping paint from this porch area with a heat gun; the ensuing fire spread into the attached private dwelling through voids. Using booster tank water will make short work of this type of fire if applied effectively. Nevertheless, the company officer must always evaluate the need for a sustained supply. |
Booster tank water can also be used to great advantage for a rapid exterior blitz attack on the fire building. On arrival, the engine company can attack immediately using its master stream appliance. Even at 500 gpm, this attack would provide a high flow rate with great penetration. This attack is suited to a situation in which the stream would not endanger occupants or firefighters (photo 3).
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| (3) A structure with a heavy volume of fire with potential exposure concerns is the ideal situation for a blitz attack using tank water and a master stream appliance. An immediate attack using tank water and a 500-gpm master stream appliance will knock down a substantial amount of fire. Don’t fall into the habit of stretching 1¾-inch lines at all of your incidents. A significant volume of fire on arrival, fires in commercial buildings, and fires in standpipe-equipped buildings demand 2½-inch handlines or even master stream applications on arrival. |
Every engine chauffer must ensure that his booster tank is always full. This point is so overwhelmingly critical; it cannot be overstated. If the engine’s sustained water supply fails because of a burst supply hose or an aerial ladder has placed an outrigger on the supply line or for any other reason, your booster tank will be your insurance policy.
Remember, most fires can be extinguished with short blasts from a properly placed, high-flow-rate handline (photo 4). The 500-gallon booster tank gives us great flexibility but, like every tool we use, we must know its strengths and limitations. One final critical point to reemphasize: Engine chauffeurs must always make sure that the booster tanks are topped off, whether on the fireground or in the fire station during shift change.
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| (4) Most fires can be extinguished with short blasts from a properly placed, high-flow-rate handline. A 1¾-inch handline flowing 150 gpm or more, rapidly stretched through the interior, will knock this fire down quickly. Supporting truck company assets will also make the interior attack more effective through coordinated ventilation. |
ARMAND F. GUZZI JR. has been a member of the fire service since 1987. He is a career firefighter with the Long Branch (NJ) Fire Department and is the Firefighter 1 program coordinator for the Monmouth County (NJ) Fire Academy, where he has taught since 1990. He has a master’s degree in management and undergraduate degrees in fire science, education, and business administration.
