Joint Training Tuesday Night- FXFD and Westford FD- Pictures

[MikeF9]

The Fairfax Fire Department and the Westford Fire Department held a joint training session in Westford Tuesday night. The scenario was a tanker shuttle between Westford's water supply on Huntley Road, and Fairfax's Engine 2 feeding the nozzle on top of the extended ladder on the ladder truck. Fairfax was set up south of the village green just past the little bridge. The plan was to see if we could keep feeding a steady stream of water to the ladder. For the most part, I think we did.


Fairfax set up with a pumper getting water out of two port-a-ponds and feeding the ladder.


Patrick Bessette on top of the ladder, changing the nozzle pattern to a straight stream.


Side by side port-a-ponds allowed for a siphon effect to make sure the pumper had plenty of water. More on this later.


On Huntley Road, Westford 711 was hooked to a dry hydrant, and filled tankers.


The Dry Hydrant. A pipe goes from the river to the shore, allowing pumpers to hook onto it and get water out without getting close to the water. The hydrant usually has a screen on the end in the brook/river to keep rocks and dirt from being sucked into the pump.


The black hard suction goes from the hydrant to the pump, the softer yellow hose feeds water to the tanker. It is called Hard Suction because the material is hard and does not collapse. You cannot use regular firehose to suck water because it is soft and would flatten out.


Fairfax Tanker one being filled. The square pipe is where the water comes out when filling a port-a-pond.


Trucks coming from the scene have time to turn around and get into position to be filled. Tankers being filled are pointed in the direction of the scene for a quick "getaway".


A nozzle is placed on the supply truck and is opened after the tanker is filled and there is a lull between tankers. This allows the pump to keep running at all times.


Carl Lashomb works the pump on the engine back at the scene under the watchful eyes of Steve Bessette. It was getting dark, and I wasn't using my flash yet. Sorry for the blurry picture.


The siphon effect between the two port-a-ponds. Both the hard suction and the plastic pipe are put in the ponds when both ponds are full. A hose is then inserted into each pipe and filled with water. Then, when the level in one pond starts dropping as water is being pulled into the pumper, water is pulled from the other pond. And vise versa. Here the water levels in both are down as we wait for a tanker to arrive.


Then, as the tanker fills the one pond, the siphon effect fills the second pond.

[Razzle Dazzle]

Great stufff!
Thanks for taking the time to put it all together on here.

[Henry]

Great explanations and photos Mike for a non knowledgeable resident - Keep up the good work, all of you.

[MikeF9]

I stole this picture from Chief Justin Hayes, who posted it on Facebook. It had been a while since he had been to the top of the ladder, and went up Tuesday night. He took this picture with his phone. That's a looooonnng way up.

[mkr]

Great explanation Mike!  THanks for showing us all the work that goes into it.  Holy Crap is that HIGH up! 

[Razzle Dazzle]

Too high for me!!!!

[Kathleen]

I'm getting dizzy just looking at the picture from that height. Takes a special kind of person to do what firemen/women do...thank you all!

[Mike Raburn]

That is NUTZ, Uncle Mike.

At the Anchorage Fire Academy, when I thought I wanted to be a fireman, we had to climb up and down a 100ft ladder.
When I got to the top, and locked in, I was moving.
I was a little worried then.

I cannot IMAGINE the pressure of the nozzle pushing back on you and making you sway, hell, SLING, you back and forth and you have to out that wet stuff on the hot stuff!

Firefighting, too much for me...

I was on list and fell off after 2 months...
Never re applied!

Adak was nice.....2 story buildings.... no problem!

That guy ontop spraying,,,,, HATS OFF!!!!!
Better man than I am!

[MikeF9]

Mike,
You are not holding the nozzle while you at the top of the ladder. The nozzle is hooked to the ladder and all you have to do is reach over and adjust the stream. The second picture shows Patrick doing just that. The wind was blowing around that night, so the ladder was moving a little, I guess.
I don't do heights. And I like something sturdy under my feet. When I heard the guys talking about the ladder moving in the wind, I was thinking, NOPE, not me. I'll stay on the ground and take pictures.

[FletcherGram]

The picture the Chief took makes me nauseous just looking at it. Whoa

[Mike Raburn]

Mike,
You are not holding the nozzle while you at the top of the ladder. The nozzle is hooked to the ladder and all you have to do is reach over and adjust the stream. The second picture shows Patrick doing just that. The wind was blowing around that night, so the ladder was moving a little, I guess.
I don't do heights. And I like something sturdy under my feet. When I heard the guys talking about the ladder moving in the wind, I was thinking, NOPE, not me. I'll stay on the ground and take pictures.

Now I see!

You all have one of them there NEW FANCY Trucks!
Line and nozzle built into the ladder.

Back in my day....up hill, snow, both ways.....?