By Greg Weimer
Throughout my career, when talking with newer firefighters at the start of their journey from the back step to the operator’s seat, I have found that I am met with excited faces that quickly turn to faces of confusion and terror. Starting the first day with a course in friction loss and hydraulic calculations can feel overwhelming to a new operator in training. This is why I like to start them off with a very basic overview of the pump and then talk about the operator’s mission priorities through the lens of fiscal responsibility. Here’s what I mean.
Money talks
You roll up to a working fire. This fire is your debt, and it is growing in interest when water is not being paid into it via gpm. But you have a savings account – your tank water. This savings account is 1,000 gallons and can be accessed through the tank to pump valve.
So, your first priority is to start paying down your debt at 150 gpm at xyz pressure. It should be noted that once you start paying down your debt, you will have about 6.6 minutes to find a job! In other words, to hit a hydrant.
Once you have a “job,” you will be able to refill your bank account and be able to start throwing down additional money toward your debts. This is where the pump intake comes into play. The pump intake tells us how much money we have to play with.
The intake is your checking account. You might be tempted to start doing actual math here, but resist that urge, as the new operator is likely still spinning around the ideas of just getting water out of the pump. (Check out “Water supply basics: Hydraulics for pump operators” if you are looking for some basic math.)
The big thing to impart here is that as hoses are added or you start to spend more money, the available funds in your checking account will start to decline. You should try to keep at least $10-20 in your account to avoid overdraft fees, aka sucking the hydrant dry. Note: This dollar amount represents the residual pressure reading. The gpms it provides may be calculated based on drops in pressure when other lines are placed in service, but this number can vary depending on the water supply source. A simple example: When you add a second 1¾-inch line and get a 5-psi drop on your gage, this 150 gpm flow cost you 5 psi of pressure. The main objective should be to not worry about the amount in reserve in terms of gpms, rather that one has a reserve.
Also, once you get a job, you should close your savings account (tank to pump), and make sure you are building back that reserve with your recert line. Some may disagree with closing off the tank to pump, but I would ask them if they dip into their savings account every month at home. I’m guessing the answer is no. This water should be thought of as just a savings or emergency fund of money. We had to tap into it in the beginning because we didn’t have a job, but now that we do have a job, this is money for when things go bad.
In my area, the pump operator is task-saturated and expected to pump the apparatus, pull second or third lines, throw ladders, secure their own water within 200 feet, and maintain accountability. We do not babysit pumps but also try not to wander too much farther than the alpha side (except when securing a job/water). This way the operator is still active but not so far away that they cannot tap into that emergency account within a few seconds of hearing cavitation/pump fluctuations or seeing limp hose. Additionally, the advantage here is that you will not be able to slowly siphon money out of the savings account without the operator knowing that they are over-pumping the water supply.
Final tips
My final thought on the first day of teaching new operators is to let them touch the truck! Go through putting the truck in pump, hearing and seeing the pump indicator lights flick on, the engine rev up, and the RPMs climb. Let them step out of the truck, pull the tank to pump, pop the primer, crack the recert line and drop a wheel chock.
Take some mystery out of the pump operator role, and let the students start building muscle memory before you destroy them with hydraulic calculations.
Reviewing the fundamentals of water and how to estimate your available supply
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg Weimer is a 10-year career veteran of the fire service, with 15 years of volunteer and part-time work. He is currently assigned to a multi-discipline house that runs an ALS engine, quint and medic unit. Weimer is a certified Firefighter II, NREMTP, swiftwater operator, boat technician, hazmat operator, Blue Card incident commander, fire safety Inspector, and ice water technician. He is a graduate of Eastern Gateway Community College with an associate degree in fire science.
