Once a year, each station pressure tests every piece of hose at their station. We pull all of the hose off of the units and out of the storage rack, hook it up to the pump and then pressurize it to 250 PSI. We keep it at 250 for five minutes and monitor it for leaks. After the test, we re-mark it if needed and then record the hose number before placing on the rack to dry. The hose off of the engine is reloaded wet.
Capt. Schmoe. Please put down your camera and give us a hand!
Usually, B shift tests the hose and lays it out on the drying rack. C shift dries it and A shift rolls it and puts it away. Not the most efficient system, but it works for us. C shift loves it.
38 lengths of hose stretched out on the rack.
The KBFPD has been performing pressurized hose tests since day one. Several neighboring agencies do not test hose at all. Several others are looking into whether it is a ISO requirement to test fire hose and whether there is any valid reason for testing hose the way we do.
Even if there is no longer any regulation requiring that we perform annual hose testing, I can't imagine the KBFPD not testing hose. What else would we do with amazing afternoons like we had today?
Hope your day was a nice as ours. As always, thanks for reading.
Schmoe
high temp 13, low minus one. No hoses in sight.
ReplyDeleteThat's a much better plan than we have in place for the annual hose tests.
ReplyDeleteWhatever shift it falls on, that crew does everything in 1 day. Once the hose is tested, all couplings are broken, and the hose is drained, rolled, and reloaded before they can return to service.
For most of our engines, that works out to:
12- 5"
2- 5" squirrel tail
9- 3"
12- 2.5"
14- 1.75"
So 48 sections of hose, plus the booster reel (God I love that auto-winder). It makes for a very long shift.
Yes Mrs. B, I'm just guessin' your local F.D. probably test their hose when it's a little warmer out. No one likes loading frozen hose onto the rig or onto a flatbed. Not that I would know from experience.
ReplyDeleteFirelady - Looks like y'all are carrying a little more hose on the rig than we are. No 3" for us, and our LDH is only 4". Everything else is pretty close.
We do have almost a full change in storage at the station, plus a reserve engine with a full complement of hose. That would be a bit much for one day.
Ideally, one crew takes tha engine, one the reserve and one the storage. It pays to jump on the task early, the Engine is the easiest. You doun't have to dry or roll it, just make sure it's clean and load it wet.
Thanks for commenting.
Our hose is tested annually also. Each Engine carries 1200 feet of 3" supply, 600 feet of 5" supply, 400 feet of 2 1/2 attack, 400 feet of 1 3/4 attack, and 200 feet of 1 1/2 attack. A crew of 4 will test and reload an Engine per day until all are tested.
ReplyDeleteAnon - I didn't mind testing the bedded hose on the rigs, especially when we were 4-0 and we were out of service.
ReplyDeleteThe pain was doing the stored (rolled) hose and all of the misc. rolls like hose packs and stuff. They took the most time.
Thanks for the comments.
That's nice post,,,this is very informative and useful content about hose testing.
ReplyDelete