06/19/2026
The past two weeks have been pretty productive for our members. This month our department has focused on rural water supply methods via static water sources such as the lake. As well as weaker hydrants throughout our municipal system. Below are a few pictures from two main exercises that were conducted.
Rural water sources can be challenging depending on location and resources available. In the first picture water is drafted from the lake and can be used to supply the fire scene or even fill tanker trucks that shuttle the water back and forth. Tankers are designed to be filled at a rate of 1,000gpm to maximize efficiency. During this exercise we were able to achieve and maintain flows of 1,500gpm from this setup.
Tonight, we conducted training on areas with weaker hydrants in our municipal system. Now this could be due to a multitude of reasons, smaller waterlines, further from a pumping station or water tower, or even areas with dead end lines. This operation is called a "Power Fill" it works by taking 2 lines off the hydrant and letting them naturally fill a portable dump tank. Think of it as a garden hose filling a swimming pool. This allows us to create a "Savings Account" of water. This particular hydrant was capable of right around 500gpm. Now if we needed to shuttle water in this area or even needed more than 500gpm we couldn't just use the hydrant. So we fill our portable dump tank of nearly 2,000gals and then supplement when needed. For example if we needed to fill tanker trucks like mentioned earlier they need to be filled at a rate of 1,000gpm. In our response area the biggest tanker we have holds 3,000gals. By utilizing our "Savings Account" I can now drain my portable tank in the first two minutes (2,000gals) and while that was going on the hydrant was still flowing at 500gpm so in two minutes I now have another 1,000gals for my grand total of 3,000gals. That tanker leaves and while we wait on the next to arrive I rebuild my "Savings Account" at the same steady rate.
***We would also like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused in these areas. We received a couple reports from our water authority of low water pressure notifications. Again, we did not intend for this to happen but it is important to our training so that we can prepare for proper water supply needs if there was to be an event in these areas. As always feel free to give us a call or send a message for any further questions or information.
