A common weakness made by engine companies is reliance on
the 150’ to 200’ pre-connected hose line for every stretch. What happens when the fire is out of the
reach of that largely relied upon pre-connect?
Do you have an attack line dedicated for a long stretch? Do you at a minimum have a plan to quickly
configure a long attack line? The
development of a long attack line is essential to the arsenal for every engine company. The long attack line comes in many different configurations
and is given many different names. For
example most fire departments in the DC Metro area run a 400’ or longer
pre-connected 1 ½” or 1 ¾” as a dedicated long attack line.
DC Metro Style 400' Pre-Connect
When I started with my current agency, we did not have a
dedicated or consistent plan for deploying a long attack line. We relied on the creativity of the company
officers and firefighters on the street to execute a plan when faced with a long stretch. After a bit of trial, error, education and convincing of
the powers, our“engine nerds” developed a load that would serve as a dedicated
long attack line. We coined it the “Apartment Load.“ The line consisted of 500’ of 2 1/2” hose flat
loaded with a gated wye attached to a 100’ of 1 ¾” hose bundled in a coil
configuration. This configuration has
served us well but provided some operational drawbacks. We experienced consistent issues with
the gated wye becoming lodged inside the hose bed during deployment. During operation we frequently dealt with the
valves becoming inadvertently open or shut. On a recent commercial structure fire a valve was shut off while crews
were operating. This configuration also
does not lend itself to quickly shoulder any hose past the 100’ of bundled 1 3/4”.
Original Apartment Load
Original Apartment Load with manual shoulder loading
After some mindful evaluation of the original set up our motivated “engine
nerds” proposed some upgrades to our “Apartment Load.” The first upgrade is to eliminate the gated
wye and replace it with a bell reducer. The
elimination of the wye eliminates the mechanical issues we were experiencing. The removal of the wye also eliminates hydraulic issues that were occurring when attempting to operate two lines off that appliance. We learned about the issues with gated wyes and as it relates to hydraulics after reading information provided by Dennis LeGear from LeGear Engineering FD
Consulting. (LeGear Engineering has a wealth of information regarding hose, nozzles and water delivery They can be found on
Facebook or at hydrant2nozzle.com). The next upgrade was configuring the last 100’ of 2 ½” hose in a minuteman shoulder
load along with the 100’ bundle of 1 ¾” attack.
This provides us with 200’ of line that can be quickly shouldered and
deployed.
The Upgraded Apartment Load
The evolution and development of our long attack line is not the answer
for every fire department. Develop a line that suits the needs of your staffing model and jurisdiction. It is also important to have more than one method for running a long attack
lines off your engine. Think outside the
box. You will surprise yourself with the
options that your engine can provide you. Regardless of the configuration of your long attack line it
is important that you drill with your companies on how to effectively and efficiently deploy your configuration. Take a look at your engine
and see if your current line and/or plan for a long attack line is meeting your
needs. I hope this sparks some
conversation. Please respond on Facebook
tell us about your method for a long attack line.
As always BE SMART!
