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Tuesday June 11, 2024

Many people living in the Town of Sardinia don’t realize that water for firefighting is hard to come by.  With no town wide municipal water system or pressurized hydrants, we rely on access to creeks and ponds for water to fight fires.  The challenge is getting the water to where we need it.  When the water is too far away for traditional suction drafting, alternate water supply methods need to be employed.

Last night we invited the Springville Volunteer Fire Company to join us in a Water Supply drill along the Cattaraugus Creek on Rt 39.  The creek is 100 feet away from the parking area with 15 to 20 feet of elevation change, ruling out suction drafting.  Instead, we used our Turbodraft Fire Eductor, which uses the venturi effect to bring large volumes of water back to the engine.  We supplemented the flows with a floating pump, together bringing in somewhere between 500 and 700 gallons per minute.  From here, tankers can be filled to drive water to the fire scene.  Thank you to Springville Fire Department for joining us and to all our members who participated!

Think you can get water from tough locations?  Join us!  We are always looking for personnel to drive and operate pumper trucks!  Training is provided, no previous experience necessary.  Take a few minutes to fill out our Interest Survey below!