PQT Summer Newsletter 2022: Success Story

One of the best compliments for a Training Officer is to see the look on the students face when the light bulb turns on, when the instruction you just gave them clicks in their brain and they perform the task flawlessly.  This is when you know you got through to them and you think to yourself that what you are doing as an instructor does matter.  We all see this throughout the year and it gives us that motivation to keep moving forward.   That gratifying feeling you just had gets even better when the department you just finished with gets a hold of you; sends you pictures and thanks you for the training because they just put their new found skills to use at a structure fire.  This happened to me today. 

On April 16th, 2022, I traveled to Howard Colorado to teach tender operations to their fire department.  We mainly focused on Tender dumpsite set-up, pumping water and transferring water from one tank to another.  We also covered basic water flows required for different types of fires and why it’s so important for your gpm to exceed the BTU’s being produced by the fire.  At the beginning of class, the students told me that they normally use a 2 ½” hard suction for drafting and that they will usually charge two or three hoselines on a structure fire.  They would normally pressurize these 1 ¾” preconnected lines between 80 and 100 psi and they assumed they were pumping in excess of 200 gpm per line.  They were surprised to learn that in reality they were only getting around 60 to 80 gpm per line.   At this point, we began discussing basic fire ground hydraulics that included nozzle pressures, friction loss, desired gpm flows, and the disadvantages of under-pumping a fire.  We also discussed the importance of using their 6” hard suction hose for the draft as opposed to the 2 ½”.  The hands-on training continued just as planned.  We used all the proper size hose lines and pump pressures; the students did learn how to properly set-up a tender dumpsite, draft and transfer water from the supply porta-tank to the draft porta-tank as well as how to properly pump the attack lines.  At the end of the day, they were very competent in their new skills and thankful for all the new information about flow rates and hydraulics.  I did however have a feeling that once I left they would revert to their old ways of doing things.  

On May 11th, 2022, I once again traveled to Howard Fire Department to give them the classroom portion of the hands-on class I just taught to them.  I know that is backwards from normal but that’s just the way scheduling worked out.  During class, there was additional discussion about all the topics I mentioned above and I felt that they humored me and stated that they would practice and use their new skills on their next fire. 

Lo and behold, on May 13th, 2022 Howard Fire Department was on-scene of a room and contents fire and they put their new skills and thought processes to use.  Orlin Camerlo with Howard Fire contacted me and told me that the guys did use the right size hose and higher pump pressures so they could deliver the right gpm for the fire.  They benefitted by being more efficient with their dumpsite set-up and are now sold on using 6” hard suction.  On a side note, prior to training, the proper dumpsite equipment and fittings were scattered between several apparatus.  So to tie everything together, time was spent gathering all the proper equipment; it was then added to the front line apparatus inventory and was ready for use on the fire.  The light bulb turned on when they got to witness that putting the right amount of water on the fire as quickly as they can knocked the fire out as opposed to under-pumping and prolonging the extinguishment of the fire.  They contained the fire to the living room and used about 1/3 of the water they used on a previous similar fire. 

The moral of my story is that we as Training Officers only see our students for a blip in time but we can have an incredible impact that will last for the duration of the firefighter’s career.  So keep up the good work men and always give 100% to your students.