Earlier in June 2014, the folks in High Level, Alberta, Canada responded to a structure fire that occurred about 23 miles outside of the Town of High Level. Chief Rodney Schmidt (High Level FD) arrived at the same time as an engine from Fort Vermillion FD followed by a 3,000 gallon tender from the High Level FD. Crews went to work on fire attack operations and a dump tank operation was placed in-service for water supply. Shortly thereafter, an 1,800-gallon tender from Fort Vermillion arrived and a little while later - a 3,500-gallon tender from La Crete arrived.

With operations underway, bystanders advised command that there was a pond not too far away from the fire scene. The Water Supply Officer checked it out and sure enough, there was a reliable pond about 300 feet away. A new water supply plan was implemented and two, Honda WTX-40 portable pumps were taken to the pond where they supplied water back to the dump tank using 4-inch supply hose. The 4-inch hose ran directly into the large dump tank and the attack pumper drafted from the dump tank as if it were a pond. The water supply operation was sufficient enough to support a 2-1/2" line equipped with a TFT Blitzfire and a second, 2-1/2" attack line. In fact, there was enough water to refill the empty tenders while supporting the fire attack operations.

This incident is another good example of the versatility of portable fire pumps and LDH in the rural firefighting arena. By setting up an "open" relay using the two portable pumps and the large dump tank, sufficent water flow was available to support fire attack operations.

Many thanks to Fire Chief Rodney Schmidt for sharing his photos and information about this incident.