For my last 29 yrs, water supply in our rural community has always been a struggle. Many ponds are inaccessible, one dry hydrant, and only one 10000k underground tank. Glad to find this site. Time for a change!

I grew up in a small town fire department that borders Lake Superior. In 1982 I became Chief at thee age of 19. Our budget was $500 a year at the time. We had a 1974 Darley 750gpm pumper and a 1000 gal tanker, rubber and cotton turnout gear. We were basement savers. I read every article I could get my hands on by Larry Davis and by 1984 the members of the department built a 3,000 gal tanker out of donated steel and plumbing. Most of the members were farmers, although we had some plumbers and pipe fitters within the department- which made for a good working combination. We worked round the clock outside of our jobs and sleep. A lot of the ideas in how we built the truck came from Larry Davis. That truck stayed in service for 30 years. We also mounted an irrigation pump between the cab and the tank with a 6" aluminum pipe/spout that rotated from side to side over the top of the cab (using the pto on the transmission for power). We could drive alongside a tank on either side or front unload. 500 gpm at idle, 2,500 gpm at 1000 rpm. The project brought the whole Town together, especially when skeptics were proven wrong, people donated their own money, and some firefighters bought their own turnout gear and buy the end of 1984 everyone in the department was wearing brand new Nomex turnout gear. Within a year removed the hose reels from the engine and replaced them with preconnect crosslays. Had preconnected hose lays on the cat walks above the wheel wheels at chest level. Built a jet bailer out of PVC pipe and had 2: 3,000 dump tanks. The costs of the original tanker was just under $7,000 ( the chassis was $5,000) 5 years later we replaced the chassis to the tune of $18,000. We had multiple buildings including a barn donated for live fire training and one farmer bought us an Akron monitor. I credit Larry Davis and a few others for being the driving force behind the success the department and I had back in those days (1980's - 1990's) I'm no longer on the department but still keep tabs on it. Today the department has a female Fire Chief ( Nova Nordrum) and has a 1,500 gpm pumper, 3,000 Darley pumper/tanker (tender) A rescue squad, a brush truck and a 4x4 rescue.

East Franklin VFD, established in 1976, is a rural all volunteer fire/rescue/EMS community organization in SW Mississippi.

We are a small volunteer fire department in Viola IL. , always looking for new and better ways for trainings and knowledge in the fire service .

Great site

Hauled water has dramatically lowered ISO PPC's in Oklahoma in the last 5 years.

Great Site Folks. Plenty of good information...

Thank you

GREAT SITE

Great stuff

I recently attended the water supply officer training seminar in Delaware Ohio. It was very informative and reminded me of some options we have that a lot of people forget at times, including myself. Training is always good no matter how long you have been in the service. Thank you, Marvin Miller Captain Colerain Twp. Fire Dept.

Thank you Mark for the "out of service" hydrant signs & the tip leading me to Pollard Water for the "flush only" signs each were a successful step to completing a Got Big Water assessment for our fire district. To date we have added 10 new dry hydrants including a bridge mount. Your assessment is easy to follow loaded with information and very professional.
Regards, Michael J Lombardi Commissioner South, Salem NY Fire District.

This is a great site. I have gotten a lot of good information from what you have posted here. Thanks.

The Nikiski Fire Department is in Alaska and Larry Davis visited back in the 80's , and has used Nikiski for Big Water Presentations for many years! RIP Larry

NFD is still moving big water in Alaska today!

I LIKE TO THANK GBW STAFF FOR PUTTING ON A GREAT COURSE. I BEEN TO3 OF THEM AND ALWAYS PICK UP SOMETHING NEW.

Thanks Mark and Al for the great training weekend! I believe this is this best training for LARGE amounts of water there is. Yes we always drafted water and we use dump tanks but these guys really opened our eyes to moving big water with the equipment we already have.I also want to say, small rural fire departments need to combine whatever funds they and there neighbors have and get these guys to do an area wide seminar.It's worth every pancake or fish basket served!

Great site, I noticed a few ideas just from looking at this. I will continue to come back more for information.

Great web site. Awesome to see so many eager to learn from others. Loudoun County has a great rural water supply procedure.

Nice looking web site. And great

Had a great time and learned a lot and how to fine tune what we currently in place. HIGHLY RECOMMEND this class to anyone out there ! ! ! Working on bringing this team back again next year !

Your class at Plainville was very worthwhile. I appreciate instructors who are knowledgeable.

Sackroom 1963-67 Wagon Driver E-123, Lt Co 35, Binder's 3 engine Tandem Hook up. Water Supply Supervisor for many Tender Shuttle
Ty says HI Hope we can meet some day soon.

Nice looking website. Lots of good info & pictures. Thank You for your service. Keep up the good work.

Just thought you might be interested in this. Looks like it took an hour to set up the tanker task force. Why a houses this big are built without hydrants I'll never know! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DzmmXVJU2R8#at=619

Comment by Mark Davis: When homes of this style are constructed without residential sprinklers - the FD is already "behind the eight ball" when the 911-call taker answers the phone.

Thank you guys for a great seminar this past weekend! I appreciate the knowledge and experience you shared with us.

We posted some info and photos from the seminar on our website, www.crotonfd.org. Feel free to check it out.

Thanks again, I learned a lot!

Thanks again for a great weekend of training in Croton on Hudson! It's always great to get out and pratice Rural Water Supply.

Went to the 2nd day of training in Oconee Co. (SC) -- it was well worth the day! We only have dry hydrants in Mtn. Rest (SC), and the infromation we learned today about dump tanks will be extremely helpful. The instructor was very knowledgeable on water tank operations. Thank you GBW for a great day of training! And thank you to Chief King and Chief Loftis for setting up this training opporunity. ~ LWW

Just finished day one of the two day class in Oconee County, South Carolina, and it was definitely a valuable class. I am looking forward to day two.

Stockton, Maryland Vol. Fire Co.

Great class and super practicals. Excellent training. Think I lost some weight! I know I lost my voice!

Excellent weekend of training put on by Mark and Shane from got big water.