Tanker 62 getting ready to depart the fill site.
On Monday Evening, members of Witmer drilled on water a supply with East Lampeter and neighboring departm
ents. Within Witmer’s response area, water tanker shuttles are an indispensable means of getting the “wet stuff on the red stuff”. Proper shuttles will ensure a constant supply of water where there are no hydrants, or even a way to supplement hydrant supply. Witmer’s three front line apparatus have 6000 gallons of water between them. Larger industrial fires can require as much as a million gallons of water. A hydrant system might not have enough water to extinguish these fires.
Manifold supplying two tankers of the shuttle.
For this drill, Witmer’s new Engine 62-1 set up a draft site from Mill Creek under Rt. 896, ran 400 of 5” line up to the road. A manifold (1 large input with 4 smaller outputs) was placed into into service near the road’s edge with four (4), 3” fill lines to supply two tankers (filling one at a time). Seven tankers were involved in this shuttle, circulating between the fill site and the drill scene. Engine 62-2 (2500gal) and Tanker 62 (3000gal) were involved in the shuttle. Squads 62-1 & 2 assisted at the fill site with manpower. Average time to fill a 3000gal tanker was around 3.5 minutes. Over 20,000 gallons was transferred to the tankers. The new Engine 62-1 continues to impress the company, quick prime was achieved from the creek and little effort was need to move the water up the incline to the manifold. Water flow was limited to approximately 1000GPM so not to damage any of the tankers.
Thank you to Bird-in-Hand (41) for hosting the drill. It was a great night with our fellow township and neighboring companies.
Witmer was able to staff all pieces to capacity (over 20 members attended the drill). Drills like this help with new members and drivers train on the art of water supply. If you don’t have water, the fire isn’t going to go out.
