Attack lines and pumping

What lines to pull?  Engineers should be able to understand what hose lines are for what purpose, what GPM they operate at, and how long the booster tank will be able to supply the attack  Familiarize yourself with the water supplies in your area of the district and how to operate from them

Booster lines  Also called red lines, hose reels  Flows about 60 GPM  Good for wildland fires and small trash fires  This is a good line to place and tie off into the booster tank if you have no other options for cooling the pump

1 ½” and 1 ¾” lines  These lines are preconnected  The smallest line that should be used on structure fires  Work well for protecting exposures and car fires  60 to 125/150 GPM

2 ½” attack lines  Some are preconnected, more lines can be set up using hose from the supply bed  Used when more water is required, or defensive actions  125 to 250 GPM

Master streams  These sets throw massive amounts of water  Used for defensive fights and exposure protection  350 to 1000 GPM

How much water do you have?  You need to be able to roughly predict how much time you will be able to continue to supply whatever attack lines you have in operation  You should also be able to estimate what help you will need immediately  Your booster tank is the most common form of initial water supply you have

Booster tank capacities  SCAT 133/134; 300gal  E134, E133, E132; 750gal  SCAT 131; 300 gal  T131/134; 1000gal  T132; 3000gal

Nursing from a tender  Nursing is connecting directly to a tender to receive its water supply and continue operating  This is a common water source at West Douglas

Question 1  If you are flowing one 1 ½” line at 125GPM from E132, how long will your booster tank of 750gal last?  How long when nursing from T132 (3000gal)?

Question 2  How long can E132 maintain a 1000GPM flow to the master stream from its 750gal tank?  And from nursing from T132?

Run backs  If you haven’t laid a supply line, and you need more water, you must pull 2 ½” line from the bed and run it back to where a supply apparatus can reach it  Requires at least two people, depending on length of run back

Connection to run back 1

Connection to run back 2

Connection to run back 3

Typical structure attack  Most of the time, two 1 ½” or 1 ¾” lines are pulled to perform an attack.  How much GPM is that?

Things the engineer can do  Set up a rehab location  Ready spare bottles for SCBA  Set up additional lights  Monitor the radio to assist officer/IC  Monitor accountability  Ready equipment for next team

Preparing for a Strategy Switch  If its possible to lose the structure, it may be necessary to pull additional lines to protect exposures  DON’T CHARGE THESE LINES YET; have them ready to charge if needed

Changing Strategy (Offensive to Defensive)  Don’t shut down interior attack lines until everyone is out of the building  Don’t operate big hoselines or master streams until everyone is out  Stay out of the collapse zone (1 ½ times the height of the building

Emergency Evacuation Signal  3 air-horn blasts in rapid succession  May repeat a couple of times  Wag the attack lines on and off three times, then leave attack lines on until everyone is out and accounted for