New Tanker

[OldCigar]

We will be purchasing a new tanker late in 2005 or early 2006.
I want a diesel, auto, air brakes, largest tank possible in a truck 30 feet maximum length. Would like any ideas on the following:
a. port-a-pond (the one that automaticly lowers), size, etc?
b. no fixed pump but a portable mounted on rear, size, etc?
c. swivel dump valve on rear, or fixed?
d. anything else you can think of, but do not want all the bells and whisles, just the necessary ones.
We are a small volly dept with NO village as a base but cover a large area.:confused:

[firechief4037]

hi there im a volunteer fire chief in p.e.i. we have just recently purchased a tanker truck as well we installed a fixerd dump valve it was only a 8 inch for a 3200 gallons of water wish we would have spent a bit more to get a 10 inch

[OldCigar]

I hear you. We purchased 1200 gal tanker for our small tanker a couple of years back and we were convinced to put a 10" dump valve on it. 45 seconds later = no water.
:D

[Michael13]

when you are a small volly department, why not spend the extra money and put in a pump. i only say this becasue we did, and it has been our front line pumper on a few calls,if our pump is out of service, or we get double calls. i can think of 5 calls in the last year alone where we've had say a car fire, and 5 mins into the call we get a grass fire or another car fire. our tanker can now respond to this plus our rescue for SCBA's and we can cover 2 minor calls without calling mutual aid. our tanker has two preconnect attack lines. a pump also helps with water shuttleing and if its a call in town, our tanker aways lays 4' supply and feeds our pump. and we also have it piped for a monitor up top. mind you we dont put the pump hours on the tanker like we do our pump, but it becomes real handy. our neighbour station has a 3000 gallon tanker but no pump. to me that truck is useless except for rural fires. at least our tanker we can block traffic, and it gets 3 extra men to a call if we need em. to me, every dept needs a second pumper and alot of depts are going with pumper tanker. i think our pump in tanker is a 850 GPM while our pump is a 1050. thats my 2 cents

[fireman2697]

we just did made some changes on the back end of our tanker.went from 8inch dump to a 10 inch dump thers no comparison.go with a least a 10

[iamvff]

We are a small town of 1100, but we service 5 municipalities surrounding us. We have an 840 pumper, rescue van, and in 99' we purchased a snuffer truck (CAFS) from Summit in Wpg, MB. This truck has been phenominal for us. It carries 375 gallons of water and when used properly we can stretch that water out to easily half to an hour or more depending on the use. The reason I mention this is that what you might want to concider is mounting a portable CAFS pump on the back of your water truck. These systems work perfect as a normal water pump, but have the added bonus of being able to spray compressed air foam also when required. CAFS systems are the ultimate for car fires, and if you respond to a strucure that is in initial stages you can usually put that out quite easily without the use of your pumper. (Bring the pumper anyways). A water tanker is the next thing on our list of equipment, because of the distance from any wells that we have to travel, and without a dought we will be putting one of these pumps on the back when we get a truck. Warning though, the down side to CAFS is that it is hard to teach the guys that it does not replace a pumper, especially at structure fires. But I will tell ya that there is not a whole lot it can't do, and do fast. Also, you must realize when to use foam and when to use water. Hope this helps a bit.

Be Safe
iamvff

[firechief4037]

Originally posted by Michael13
when you are a small volly department, why not spend the extra money and put in a pump. i only say this becasue we did, and it has been our front line pumper on a few calls,if our pump is out of service, or we get double calls. i can think of 5 calls in the last year alone where we've had say a car fire, and 5 mins into the call we get a grass fire or another car fire. our tanker can now respond to this plus our rescue for SCBA's and we can cover 2 minor calls without calling mutual aid. our tanker has two preconnect attack lines. a pump also helps with water shuttleing and if its a call in town, our tanker aways lays 4' supply and feeds our pump. and we also have it piped for a monitor up top. mind you we dont put the pump hours on the tanker like we do our pump, but it becomes real handy. our neighbour station has a 3000 gallon tanker but no pump. to me that truck is useless except for rural fires. at least our tanker we can block traffic, and it gets 3 extra men to a call if we need em. to me, every dept needs a second pumper and alot of depts are going with pumper tanker. i think our pump in tanker is a 850 GPM while our pump is a 1050. thats my 2 cents

[Michael13]

????????????? comments?

[iamvff]

Michael13,
I don't think that you could have said it better yourself!?:D

Be Safe
iamvff

[firechief4037]

Originally posted by firechief4037

well micheal while i do respect your comment in regardes to the tanker situation you must also realize that our fire dept runs on a very limited budget, and that the cost of getting a tanker with all the bells and wistles would be costly what is your budget in your dept if you dont mind me asking???????????? and might i add we are all volunteer no paid members thanks,

[firechief4037]

Originally posted by iamvff
Michael13,
I don't think that you could have said it better yourself!?:D

Be Safe
iamvff its a lot of cost eh
????????????????????

[firechief4037]

Originally posted by fireman2697
we just did made some changes on the back end of our tanker.went from 8inch dump to a 10 inch dump thers no co

mparison.go with a least a 10
hey there this is alot of fun eh i came acrossed a couple of idiots all ready :D hehehe

[Michael13]

we are also a volly department. i guess the reason council gave us the money is because we made tons of money selling nevada tickets. we have bought 3 new trucks and a new hall in the last 12 years. half of all the cost we paid by our assciation. i only meant get the bells and whistles if you have the money. i say this because our sister department bought a tanker, same municipality, so council gave them the same benifits as us, but they chose to go more gallons and no pump. our annual budget in around 75,000. but thats not including major purchases like a truck. council is good to us, but we need to prove we need that equipment and its nessicary. they dont do handouts. lots of convincing to get equipment.

[FClement]

We are a volunteer department too! We got a 1996 tanker last year with a 10inch dump. It is absolutely the best thing!

[OldCigar]

We presently have a 1200 gallon tanker which only has a 20hp pump on the rear bumper. We have used it at fires, we used it to fill the tanker, it can be used in the pump & roll method. Both the chief and I feel that this would also work with the new tanker giving us more space/weight to carry water, and still give us the flexibility of a pump that can be dismounted as opposed to a fixed one. The 1200 gallon tanker used to have a Wagax 600 gpm pump & motor mounted midships which was nice but had limitations in our area.
Thanks for you comments, I really apreicate them.

[wilderness]

Seen a really sweet set up the other day..........
3 - 10" dumps one off each side and one off the back.....
we have had calls where we wished we would of had them on the side as well.........to simply is just too sweet to over look when we purchase our next tanker

[pitter19]

Most of our Tankers come with a portable pump preplumbed to the tanker, and another portable pump to fit in the rear compartment. With one larger portable hooked to the truck you can pump and roll, and also if time is a factor pump your first load immediately to a pumper if necessary. This we have done numerous times and it takes seconds to hook up. At the same time we are pumping our load, manpower permiting we are dropping our porta tank for the next truck or our remaining load. We have found that having two portables one preconnected has been very helpfull in setting up rural water supply. The preconnected portable can also be easily disconnected and used as a second portable elsewhere if needed. If you have room in your budget this maybe a option you might consider. Thats what works for us.