The Importance of Checking Firefighter Hoses-A Geyser Emerges!

Hose spaghetti 

When time is of the essence it can't be wasted replacing busted hoses while a house is in the midst burning. Regularly conducting maintenance is important to ensure that when fire calls occur all of the equipment is going to work as planned. While its not an exciting job to continuously conduct inspections, cleaning and maintenance it certainly is 90% of what allows firefighters to save buildings, help people, and get everyone back to their normal lives. 

In this case we rolled out all of the hoses that were on the trucks and put some pressure in them to test for leaks. We inspected all of the hose parts and replaced the gasket when we found some water escaping. After all the holes appeared functioning well we ramped up the PSI and found a geyser (hose rupture)! Meaning this hose was weak and we can replace there then wait until we are at the fire. 

The U.S. Fire Administration has a number of different guides on equipment, maintenance, NIS, etc... on their 'Fire Department Operations, Management and Safety' page. 

You can also read how to conduct hose testing to ensure that the equipment is safe and maintains its safety throughout its use....until it needs to be retired. HERE

Escanaba Township Fire Department is run by a dedicated crew of firefighters that not only donate their time but also hearts to helping the community. They are out there every week training (likely training more than many other departments) and support nearly all the other communities around them with equipment and training. Firefighting is a community. Esc. Twp. Fire Dept. are in need of a new grass fire truck, air bottles for air packs, and of course motivated volunteers! Check out their Facebook page!