Crews from MFB and CFA Districts 13 and 14 have taken part in a major water relay pumping exercise this morning at Westerfolds Park, north east of Melbourne.
The park, on the interface between MFB and CFA, is an important community asset and with limited water supplies available in the park, the exercise was set up to test the water delivery capacity over a long hose relay.
South Warrandyte Pumper was set up on the banks of the Yarra River as the draughting appliance and fed 2 lines of 64mm hose into Warrandyte Pumper. Warrandyte pumper then fed 2 lines on 64mm hose into a collector which fed into a single 100mm hose laid 3 lengths to MFB Pumper Tanker 30. This in turn fed into Pumper Tanker 16.
A 400 metre hose lay around the park was provided by Scoresby Hoselayer, a specialist CFA Appliance used for long distance water relays. The hoselay was then divided and fed into both MFB Water Tanker 30 and Plenty Pumper Tanker simultaneously before being collected once again from 4 x 64mm hose lengths into a single 100mm hose which supplied water a further 4 lengths to a ground monitor where water was delivered back into the Yarra river.
“The exercise was designed to try and deliver 4000L/min at the ground monitor,” said CFA Station Officer Glenn Bosua who helped coordinate the exercise. “It is a fantastic way to not only test theoretical flows, but also for the agencies to become more familiar with each other’s appliances and capabilities”.
MFB Station Officer Tim Fryer agreed with Glenn wholeheartedly, adding “It’s a great way to for the public to see the Fire Services working and training together as one. We need to do much more of this”.
A number of configurations were tried during the morning and in the end close to the theoretical flows were achieved. All crews were able to get to see and learn about other appliances in the local area and the exercise concluded with a BBQ in the park where they were able to socialize and discuss the morning’s activities.
A very successful inter-agency exercise.
Crews which attended included:
CFA: Eltham Pumper, Warrandyte Pumper, South Warrandyte Pumper, Plenty Pumper Tanker, Scoresby Hoselayer; MFB: Pumper Tanker 30, Water Tanker 30, Pumper Tanker 16
Author: Andrew Heath