Ashland Maine Large Tanker

[NHFD21255 141]

Found these 2 pictures the other day of Ashland Maine's Tanker from the early 90's

[dwcfireman 656]

When you need a lot of water fast!!! I'm surprised the idea of large tankers like this isn't more common.

[Jybehofd 85]

they have some in New Jersey too i wish i had pics of them but i dont they are at the Military Sealift Command fire training centrer

[Bnechis 3,961]

When you need a lot of water fast!!! I'm surprised the idea of large tankers like this isn't more common.

They generally only work well in areas that are flat, dont have twisty/windy roads, narrow driveways, etc. They also require a CDL (even in NYS) so its harder to get enough drivers.

They are often hard to use in shuttles as the slow them down. They do work well as nurse units

[dwcfireman 656]

They also require a CDL (even in NYS) so its harder to get enough drivers.

I remember this was a hot topic around the state a few years back. I thought the resolve was that (at least volunteer firefighters) a CDL was not needed or firefighting personnel in NYS. I could be wrong, but that was the last thing I heard.

They are often hard to use in shuttles as the slow them down. They do work well as nurse units

Having grown up in a rural fire house I've had the chance to work with tanker shutles on plenty of occasions. I can't completely agree that a tractor trailer tanker would slow down the operation. In my experience the shuttle operation is usually slowed down by inexperienced drivers/operators and miscommunication. My personal opinion is that tractor trailer tankers (or at least one in the shuttle operation) could be very useful at the begining of a fire or in a situation where there is an extremely long haul to get to the fire.

[billfitz 109]

Make sure you do the math gasoline 6lbs per gallon, water 8.3lbs per gallon on a large tanker like that the difference may exceed the GVW of the trailer if it was originally designed to carry fuel.

5000 gallons of gasoline = 30,000lbs, 5000 gallons of water 41,500lbs thats 33% more weight!!!

[Bnechis 3,961]

I remember this was a hot topic around the state a few years back. I thought the resolve was that (at least volunteer firefighters) a CDL was not needed or firefighting personnel in NYS. I could be wrong, but that was the last thing I heard.

The exemption does not include tractor trailers.

Having grown up in a rural fire house I've had the chance to work with tanker shutles on plenty of occasions. I can't completely agree that a tractor trailer tanker would slow down the operation. In my experience the shuttle operation is usually slowed down by inexperienced drivers/operators and miscommunication. My personal opinion is that tractor trailer tankers (or at least one in the shuttle operation) could be very useful at the begining of a fire or in a situation where there is an extremely long haul to get to the fire.

Inexperienced drivers/operators and miscommunication are the biggest problems during shuttles, but what consistintly slows down shuttles (with well trained crews and good communications) is tankers that load and unload at different rates. Since the rate changes as the tan fills and empties what commonly happens is you flow has slowwed to a point its better to move out and let the next tanker in, but that means you are not fully filling or empty and you are hauling extra water back and forth that will not be used for firefighting. The other problems with the tractor trailor is its much harder to turn around and/or back up and finally because of its length it may prevent other tankers from dumping until it is moved away. These tankers are very useful as a nurse tender, where they are not trying to shuttle.

[mfc2257 464]

Historically, I have requested a separate fill site for tankers that present unique filling, or extended filling times. If the large tankers can unload water at the same rate as the standard size ones, there is no reason IMHO to take then out of the loop... Just have them fill elsewhere. If they cannot unload at the same rate, when they are done nursing, have them refill and standby in the event that the water shuttle breaks down and they have to nurse again.

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

Historically, I have requested a separate fill site for tankers that present unique filling, or extended filling times. If the large tankers can unload water at the same rate as the standard size ones, there is no reason IMHO to take then out of the loop... Just have them fill elsewhere. If they cannot unload at the same rate, when they are done nursing, have them refill and standby in the event that the water shuttle breaks down and they have to nurse again.

As long as the tractor is a B model !

[Reliance 29]

Also what happens if your portatank only holds 2500 gallons it could take a while to fill & dump. Or one TDT equals two regular tankers.

[Bnechis 3,961]

Historically, I have requested a separate fill site for tankers that present unique filling, or extended filling times. If the large tankers can unload water at the same rate as the standard size ones, there is no reason IMHO to take then out of the loop... Just have them fill elsewhere. If they cannot unload at the same rate, when they are done nursing, have them refill and standby in the event that the water shuttle breaks down and they have to nurse again.

Also what happens if your portatank only holds 2500 gallons it could take a while to fill & dump. Or one TDT equals two regular tankers.

Seperate fill sites like that is a great way to handle it (better way would be to standardize the tanker fleet, but we all know thats not happening anytime soon here). I also like the idea of them nursing, refill and standby. But its not just unloading at the same rate that is at issue. If a 2,000 gallon tanker and an 8,000 gallon tanker offload at 1,000gpm (average) then the smaller tanker will have to wait till 6 minutes before it can unload and get more water.

Once portable tank ops start you need at least 3 tanks (5 is much better) to maintain 750-1,000gpm flows. Then you dump in the closest one to the attack/supply engine and when its full move the tanker to another tank. Ideally you need more portable tank capacity (per tank)than your primary tanker size; i.e. if you run 2,000 gallon tankers then 2.500 tanks are a good choice (since you may not be on level ground and because there is always some water left when you switch to other tanks.