Last night at fire practice we did a scenario imagining that the ferry was on fire. As it turns out, we're less concerned about the ferry burning up than we are about the dock burning down. BC Ferries has lots of boats that they can press into service, but it would take months to rebuild the dock.
We geared up and drove the trucks down the ferry landing. I was in the new truck which is a fully modern pumper unit. The breathing apparatus are built into the seats of the truck so you can don them and get them all set up while in transit. Once at the site we ran out a couple hundred feet of 1 1/2" hose and started to spray water into the ocean. The night watchman would have gotten pretty grumpy if we would've sprayed thousands of gallons of water onto his truck and ferry.
Apparently for every gallon of water per minute that you pump out of the hose, that equivalent number of pound in force is directed back at you. That is to say that when the hose is going full out at 150 gpm, it takes 150 pounds of force to hold the hose out in front of you. My arms are cooked!
Check out this hilarious photo of the Hornby Island Fire Department in 1975 taken by Bob Cain.
4 comments:
Good for you Doug. Your grandfather Heslop would be so proud of you. Does this mean you now have running hot water for showers and have no need for the FD showers anymore.
Love Aunt Anne
Old photo? Thats exactly how I imagined the 2007 Hornby Island fire dept. to look like... with the exception of wearing crocs or sandals.
I'm jealous,Lately you've been getting to play with all kinds of really cool toys.
Well Done.
Pretty funny, the guy on the left is Larry, Angie & Chad's dad.
Gotta love those burns eh?
Post a Comment