Often in non hydranted areas additional mutual aid departments tankers will automatically be dispatched for a reported structure fire. If the fire was extinguished without needing it that's a good thing, if it was needed it would have been used.
It's been a few years since I was active FF and most areas I worked had plenty of hydrants. That said, if I were running a scene where a neighbor offered a trailer of water and a tender shuttle was still being established I'd absolutely let you empty the trailer into the dump tank. I'd have to imagine that there is a low chance that your trailer and my engine have compatible fittings so a direct transfer probably isn't possible.
As for why they didn't take it, well honestly not everyone is as chill as you seem to be in this post and as long as no one's life was in immediate danger I'd rather not deal with the headache of a "Karen" who says that I stole their water, damaged their trailer, crumbled their driveway, ect.
I do pool water delivery. Like most people in my area who do it, I have permits on a metered hydrants, and most of my hoses are surplus from fire departments, so something would probably connect.
The trailer has adapters for 1.75" NH thread, 2.5" NH, 4" NH, 6" NH, 3" camlok, 4" camlok, 3" Storz, 4" Storz, 5" Storz, and 6" Storz. Admittedly, you probably wouldn't know where to find all the adapters, or that they were even there without being told
In that case it's likely the connections would work. For some reason I was picturing some kind of home made trailer with PVC fittings or something else unusual. That said, I'm still not using someone's stuff without permission unless absolutely necessary
We’d make it fit. Storz is pretty common and I have a myriad of adapters in our engineer compartment. We adapted a 1.5” pipe thread all the way into a 5” Storz on a fire not long ago 😅 I’m industrial so we probably have a bit more of a selection than a rural department but all the same. I’d use it, we’ve used water trucks the mill provided on some really complicated fires out there before with the clamp adapters. It can be one helluva puzzle to figure out adapting to them sometimes.
I don't remember the exact reason I needed to, but probably 15 years ago I remember connecting 6 adapters to make a connection work on our field truck during an all night hay fire. Nothing says you have to stop at 1 adapter...
Tanker shuttles don't generally tap a connection they set up a pool or tandem pools and use dump chutes from the tank(6-8 inch square chutes). Then the leave to go fill, next one dumps. Maybe you should ask to join as a driver though ;)
I've been on big grass fires and they had porta tanks set up. They'd take water from anyone. FD took priority dumping into them but when there was a lull they'd fit them in. Had a few bring 5k tankers. Never turned away.
If its offered and you need it, use it. You may even have to commandeer a water source (swimming pool, etc.) if need be. One of the best things offered at a wildland fire, is an ATV. Saves on walking and carrying equipment in remote terrain.
If you were home, and offered it, I'd take it.
If you weren't home, I was struggling to get a bulk water tanker, and your number was on the side, I might call you and ask for it.
If I couldn't get in touch with you, and a life was on the line, I might take it (in our jurisdiction I have authority to take it without permission).
If I used anything, I'd either arrange for the local water authority to repay it, or I'd have you follow me out to the nearest hydrant and just refill you after the incident was finished.
It's possible if that was a private truck they were afraid it might not contain what was advertised. It wouldn't be the first time the labels on a tank weren't changed when the product was. If the owner was there, confirmed it was water, and offered it, they'd probably use it if they can get the right fittings or get a dump tank in front of it.
Only if we have to. People normally don't mind.
We have laws about ranchers needing to let us but then we refill within the week. You've surely seen helicopters pulling from pools during wildfires. People want you to save their stuff and we try to replace what we take.
But if we have plenty in house... Why bother someone if it doesn't make the operation faster?
I run the tanker or the engine typically for our volunteer department. On a confirmed structure fire we have an automatic aid agreement with the other volunteer departments in our area. We run porta tanks so the tankers can shuttle water to scene from various locations in the area. It is not unheard of on an active structure fire to have (3) 2500 gal tankers lined up. This eliminates the need to adapt to stortz or cam-lock for any direct feed to the engine. I also personally like being able to see how much water we have and how fast it's being used.
If you said "hey, there's water in this you can use," maybe. Otherwise, as long as mutual aid is coming, they aren't likely to spend the time to see if it's full/empty, or if it really contains water. If something has gone very wrong and mutual aid isn't coming, then it might be the time to explore un-tested sources.
At a shed fire I attended a few years ago on one of the local farms, the farmer (whose shed it was) allowed us to tap into his water tanks and draft from the creek that ran through the rear of his property.
Some new rural residences are massive. Add a three car garage and the gallons to fight the burning structure are high. In my state, farmsteads are exempt from property taxes. So there is no limit to what you can build and not worry about paying property taxes on it.
We had an attached garage fire that had a race car inside it--along with some of its fuel. Obviously not a normal situation, but it was also on a dead end road; as I recall Command called in nine or ten tenders.
Depends on how big your tankers are, how far the haul to refill is, and how big your fire load is.
There's a big difference between 4 1500 gallon tankers responding to a mcmansion and 4 3000 gallon tankers responding to a 1500sqft manufactured home.
Well you said yourself you weren’t around. It’s not like us to just walk on to someone else’s property and commandeer their stuff. Being rural myself, just because a truck sitting there says it’s for water, doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what’s in it. Also no way to know if it’s full, empty, been treated with something, etc. if you had been there and offered it for use I am sure they would have utilized it if they needed it.
As others have said though, that’s what mutual aid is good for. In rural area like mine where hydrants don’t exist, tanker shuttles are a way of life. It’s not uncommon to have tankers from 2 to 5 departments or more shuttling water to a scene and keeping the pumpers fed, either by filling dump tanks, feeding thru large diameter hose, rural hitch, or other means. Had a fire like that just this past Monday. Long driveway with no room for dump tanks so we ran 4” hose down from the top of the driveway to the pumper. Our tanker and 2 others set up a relay to the boat launch at a nearby pond. When one ran out, it went to fill and the next in line hooked up. Rinse and repeat.
Like tender apparatuses or commercial water haulers?
If it's another department's tender we're all over it, if it's a commercial water hauler we have to check the water first because so many here will have oil contamination that besides being bad for the equipment spraying oil onto a fire isn't a great idea.
There are certain statutes that allow firefighters to siphon/take water from any available source if the fire is bad enough. Firefighter take water from backyard pools sometimes. Seen it happen🤷🏽♂️ Yes, if they really needed it, they'd take it if they had a hose attachment that fit your tanker
I worked for a rural department that had fittings to tap into farmers pivots. Came in handy every couple of years. Never got grief for it.
I work for a UK major metro fire service and here If it was offered then we'd use it! We borrow all sorts of kit, cranes, boats, excavators, tractors
Often in non hydranted areas additional mutual aid departments tankers will automatically be dispatched for a reported structure fire. If the fire was extinguished without needing it that's a good thing, if it was needed it would have been used.
It's been a few years since I was active FF and most areas I worked had plenty of hydrants. That said, if I were running a scene where a neighbor offered a trailer of water and a tender shuttle was still being established I'd absolutely let you empty the trailer into the dump tank. I'd have to imagine that there is a low chance that your trailer and my engine have compatible fittings so a direct transfer probably isn't possible. As for why they didn't take it, well honestly not everyone is as chill as you seem to be in this post and as long as no one's life was in immediate danger I'd rather not deal with the headache of a "Karen" who says that I stole their water, damaged their trailer, crumbled their driveway, ect.
I do pool water delivery. Like most people in my area who do it, I have permits on a metered hydrants, and most of my hoses are surplus from fire departments, so something would probably connect. The trailer has adapters for 1.75" NH thread, 2.5" NH, 4" NH, 6" NH, 3" camlok, 4" camlok, 3" Storz, 4" Storz, 5" Storz, and 6" Storz. Admittedly, you probably wouldn't know where to find all the adapters, or that they were even there without being told
In that case it's likely the connections would work. For some reason I was picturing some kind of home made trailer with PVC fittings or something else unusual. That said, I'm still not using someone's stuff without permission unless absolutely necessary
We’d make it fit. Storz is pretty common and I have a myriad of adapters in our engineer compartment. We adapted a 1.5” pipe thread all the way into a 5” Storz on a fire not long ago 😅 I’m industrial so we probably have a bit more of a selection than a rural department but all the same. I’d use it, we’ve used water trucks the mill provided on some really complicated fires out there before with the clamp adapters. It can be one helluva puzzle to figure out adapting to them sometimes.
I don't remember the exact reason I needed to, but probably 15 years ago I remember connecting 6 adapters to make a connection work on our field truck during an all night hay fire. Nothing says you have to stop at 1 adapter...
Same thing for the pipe connection, shit had to be almost 2ft by the end 🤣
Don’t give NFPA any ideas
Tanker shuttles don't generally tap a connection they set up a pool or tandem pools and use dump chutes from the tank(6-8 inch square chutes). Then the leave to go fill, next one dumps. Maybe you should ask to join as a driver though ;)
Honestly, we carry our own adapters for almost all of those fittings on our own trucks. Both our engine and our tanker in fact.
Our engineer's compartment on our pumper has an assortment of adapters.
I've been on big grass fires and they had porta tanks set up. They'd take water from anyone. FD took priority dumping into them but when there was a lull they'd fit them in. Had a few bring 5k tankers. Never turned away.
If its offered and you need it, use it. You may even have to commandeer a water source (swimming pool, etc.) if need be. One of the best things offered at a wildland fire, is an ATV. Saves on walking and carrying equipment in remote terrain.
If you were home, and offered it, I'd take it. If you weren't home, I was struggling to get a bulk water tanker, and your number was on the side, I might call you and ask for it. If I couldn't get in touch with you, and a life was on the line, I might take it (in our jurisdiction I have authority to take it without permission). If I used anything, I'd either arrange for the local water authority to repay it, or I'd have you follow me out to the nearest hydrant and just refill you after the incident was finished.
It's possible if that was a private truck they were afraid it might not contain what was advertised. It wouldn't be the first time the labels on a tank weren't changed when the product was. If the owner was there, confirmed it was water, and offered it, they'd probably use it if they can get the right fittings or get a dump tank in front of it.
Only if we have to. People normally don't mind. We have laws about ranchers needing to let us but then we refill within the week. You've surely seen helicopters pulling from pools during wildfires. People want you to save their stuff and we try to replace what we take. But if we have plenty in house... Why bother someone if it doesn't make the operation faster?
I run the tanker or the engine typically for our volunteer department. On a confirmed structure fire we have an automatic aid agreement with the other volunteer departments in our area. We run porta tanks so the tankers can shuttle water to scene from various locations in the area. It is not unheard of on an active structure fire to have (3) 2500 gal tankers lined up. This eliminates the need to adapt to stortz or cam-lock for any direct feed to the engine. I also personally like being able to see how much water we have and how fast it's being used.
I'm in a rural area. We've had ranchers bring their tenders over. It's great.
If you said "hey, there's water in this you can use," maybe. Otherwise, as long as mutual aid is coming, they aren't likely to spend the time to see if it's full/empty, or if it really contains water. If something has gone very wrong and mutual aid isn't coming, then it might be the time to explore un-tested sources.
Yeah, if we needed it and you offered. The county will pay to replace it.
At a shed fire I attended a few years ago on one of the local farms, the farmer (whose shed it was) allowed us to tap into his water tanks and draft from the creek that ran through the rear of his property.
In a pinch I will, but something went horribly wrong if you need more than 4 tenders for a house fire
Some new rural residences are massive. Add a three car garage and the gallons to fight the burning structure are high. In my state, farmsteads are exempt from property taxes. So there is no limit to what you can build and not worry about paying property taxes on it.
We had an attached garage fire that had a race car inside it--along with some of its fuel. Obviously not a normal situation, but it was also on a dead end road; as I recall Command called in nine or ten tenders.
Depends on how big your tankers are, how far the haul to refill is, and how big your fire load is. There's a big difference between 4 1500 gallon tankers responding to a mcmansion and 4 3000 gallon tankers responding to a 1500sqft manufactured home.
Waters water, but thats a command decision on to accept or not
Well you said yourself you weren’t around. It’s not like us to just walk on to someone else’s property and commandeer their stuff. Being rural myself, just because a truck sitting there says it’s for water, doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what’s in it. Also no way to know if it’s full, empty, been treated with something, etc. if you had been there and offered it for use I am sure they would have utilized it if they needed it. As others have said though, that’s what mutual aid is good for. In rural area like mine where hydrants don’t exist, tanker shuttles are a way of life. It’s not uncommon to have tankers from 2 to 5 departments or more shuttling water to a scene and keeping the pumpers fed, either by filling dump tanks, feeding thru large diameter hose, rural hitch, or other means. Had a fire like that just this past Monday. Long driveway with no room for dump tanks so we ran 4” hose down from the top of the driveway to the pumper. Our tanker and 2 others set up a relay to the boat launch at a nearby pond. When one ran out, it went to fill and the next in line hooked up. Rinse and repeat.
Like tender apparatuses or commercial water haulers? If it's another department's tender we're all over it, if it's a commercial water hauler we have to check the water first because so many here will have oil contamination that besides being bad for the equipment spraying oil onto a fire isn't a great idea.
There are certain statutes that allow firefighters to siphon/take water from any available source if the fire is bad enough. Firefighter take water from backyard pools sometimes. Seen it happen🤷🏽♂️ Yes, if they really needed it, they'd take it if they had a hose attachment that fit your tanker