Problem solving requires leadership and management.  In the public sector the emphasis is on cost-cutting and increased service.  Most government services are monopolies and thus require less sophisticated decision-making techniques than do private sector enterprises who commonly employ game theory, statistical decision theory, and systems analysis.  In government, incremental decision-making or muddling through is often the norm.  The perception is one of  a confused and unplanned approach to problems.  With all its negative connotations incrementalism can be used for good purpose by astute public managers who also employ contingency planning with environmental scanning to make decisions.  Environmental scanning is simply paying attention to anything and everything that may impact your organization in some way.

Planning is future oriented and is an integral part of managements tasks.  It involves the development of strategies and the means to implement them.  Plans provide a framework for decision-making in a complex, ever-changing environment.  Plans should be thought of as anticipatory decision-making.  The difficulty in planning lies in the inherent or potential relationship between decisions rather than the decisions themselves.  For this reason there should be an allowance for vagueness in plans.  Collect relevant, accurate, current data and analyze it carefully.  Apply the analysis to problems in general terms and never forget the human element.  Organizational strategy results from managerial decision concerning what to do and how to do it.

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Larger communities with fire protection provided from several stations benefit from using some form of structured alarm response.  A structured response helps ensure acceptable response times and a safe apparatus response.  With a planned response, assignments are known and followed thereby alleviating fire dispatchers and incident commanders of some stress.  Alarm assignments may be recorded on “run cards” or in computerized files.  When responses involve different tankers traveling to different coverage areas alarm assignments are a useful tool.

If your fire protection water supply is dependent upon alternative sources and your fire flow needs are great, developing a structured response has benefits where tankers are involved.  If your alarm assignments include automatic response by mutual aid companies, you may be able to earn extra credit on your ISO rating.  To take full advantage of planning a structured response using large numbers of tankers, consider including two additional tasks—determine the continuous flow capability of responding tankers and determine the needed fire flow for the buildings in the coverage area.

Continuous flow capability or CFC is a measure (in gallons per minute) of the relative efficiency of a given tanker based upon its actual capacity, handling time required for loading/off-loading, and travel time over a specific distance.  The CFC figures are used to estimate the maximum available flow for operational planning purposes.  In William F. Eckman’s The Fire Department Water Supply Handbook, CFC’s for various size tankers have been pre-calculated and summarized in chart form.

Needed fire flow or NFF is an estimate (in gallons per minute) of the rate at which water must be applied to a structure fire in order to bring it under control.  This figure is also referred to as simply “fire flow” and there are several recognized methods of calculation.  The ISO uses the term NFF in its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule.  Remember that fire flow is only a measure of the rate of application; the supply source must provide this flow for an extended duration.  The ISO requires that NFF’s up to 2,500 gpm be available for two hours duration.

Good fire protection planning means taking the extra effort to determine fire flow needs and tanker flow capabilities when developing alarm assignments.  The information contributes to informed decision-making and lays the foundation for a community fire protection master plan.  Determination of fire flow needs should be incorporated into your pre-fire planning efforts.

If all stations in your jurisdiction respond initially on all alarms assignments, coverage maps are generally not necessary because the flow capability will always be the same.  However, if your operation calls for tankers to respond into different coverage areas, then alarm assignments determined from a tanker coverage map may be of benefit to your department.  In this way you can determine ahead of time the total available flow (from tankers) for a given coverage area.  In other words, you will know what you need and whether you can deliver it.

Developing alarm assignments
Through a systematic approach, alarm assignments can be developed that take full advantage of available resources.  Your resources may not meet the needs of the given situation, but at least you can take full advantage of what you have and possibly make a case for increased resources.  Begin with a survey of structures in the coverage area noting construction type, features, occupancy, hazards, and needed fire flow.  This information is your  pre-fire plan for a specific structure and determines your resource needs.

Next identify water resources noting location, reliability, and capacity. There are only two categories of water supply for fire protection—reliable and unreliable.  Reliable sources are available year-round, provide constant volume, and have good access.  Unreliable sources are not available year-round and have poor access.  It is essential for planning that you calculate the available flow and total volume.  To determine reliability you may need to contact your state university Cooperative Extension service or USDA Soil Conservation Service.  Consider access for heavy apparatus carefully; remember there are other means of getting water from an inaccessible site.

Consideration of response time includes station locations, roads, terrain, weather conditions, apparatus limits, access problems, and operator skill.  Actual response times are determined by driving them or through interpolation using recorded dispatch and arrival times and estimated travel distances.   It is also necessary to determine distances and travel times from water supply points to coverage area locations.

GIS useful for creating a coverage map
Using a large scale map, determine boundary lines of the jurisdiction, locate stations, plot the mileage radiating out from all stations allowing for special terrain conditions and apparatus ability.  Allowing for any special circumstances, adjust the mid-way points between stations as necessary.  This is a team effort that should involve chief officers, company officers, and apparatus operators who are most familiar with local response conditions.  As mid-points are adjusted, a pattern eventually becomes evident permitting a line to be drawn connecting mid-points that defines alarm assignment response boundaries for the individual stations.  Next locate water sources on the map and their distances to structures or areas within the designated coverage area.

When it is known which tankers respond on an alarm assignment for a structure (or an area) the CFC for each tanker is totaled.  This indicates with certainty whether the total available flow (total CFC) matches the needed fire flow.  A completed alarm (or box) assignment card will include the following:  location name, address,  box number, occupancy type, apparatus assigned on each alarm, mutual or automatic aid assigned, water supply sources, and capabilities of tankers assigned.

Technorati Tags: GIS coverage maps, rural water supply, tankers and tenders

What steps does a department take when water supply for fire protection is inadequate or non-existent?  The first step is to identify the Needed Fire Flow for individual properties.  The second step is to identify the Basic Fire Flow requirement for the community or district.  The third step involves flow testing existing public water supplies and identifying alternative supply sources.  In the fourth, step buildings and structures are grouped according fire flow requirements.  The fifth step includes developing alternative sources and planning methods of delivering the needed flow.

Resources
Numerous technical resources and organizations exist to aid in this work.  The first place to seek help is the Insurance Services Office (ISO) which sets Property Protection Classifications for communities.  Part of the ISO classification process involves identifying water supply requirements—both Needed Fire Flows and Basic Fire Flow.  The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is another source which publishes standards and recommended practices useful for fire protection planning.  The NFPA publishes recommended practices for fire flow testing and marking (color-coding) hydrants, as well as a standard on water supplies for suburban and rural fire fighting. the last is a guide for determining fire flow requirements for various types of occupancy classes and construction types.  It also provides information on identifying and developing alternative sources of water supply, as well as suggested methods for getting the supply to the potential incident scene.

Identifying water supply requirements, evaluating existing resources, and determining whether sufficient resources exist is part of the master planning process.  Developing fire flow requirements for structures requires specific construction data which in many cases may be obtained from the tax assessor’s property records; otherwise, it must be collected in the field.  With appropriate training this task may be assigned to fire companies as part of their district inspections, but generally it is done by members of the planning committee.   When fire protection consultants are hired to either conduct or assist with master planning, they should be required to identify or determine fire flow requirements as part of their contract.

Using the needed fire flow information, the community should be divided into fire management areas consisting of groups of buildings with similar fire flow requirements and for identifying the fire flow requirements for individual structures with potential for large losses.  When the fire management areas are identified on a map you will have a picture of general fire flow needs in various areas of your community.  The next step involves testing existing public water supply sources and calculating the potential of alternative sources.  The local water company or the ISO may be able to provide specific flow test  information.  If you use water company figures, check to ensure their testing procedure follows NFPA or ISO guidelines.

If the fire flow available from hydrants is insufficient to meet the needs in specific fire management areas then complimentary alternative sources must be considered to close the gap.  This situation may be encountered in fringe areas of large cities, suburban areas, and small cities with low capacity water systems.  If you find your department in this situation and choose to develop alternative sources, you will learn what rural firefighters have long known—alternative water supply is a specialized craft unto itself.

Alternative water supply consists of identifying sources, developing sources, and delivering the required water to a specific location via relays using large-diameter hose, tanker shuttles, or a combination of the two.  Besides the NFPA, two other sources of valuable information on water delivery techniques are Larry Davis’s book Rural Firefighting Operations and William Eckman’s book The Fire Department Water Supply Handbook.

Benefits of improved supplies
Improved firefighter training, advancements in fire apparatus, and smoke detectors has resulted in a better job of suppressing fires before they become serious. It is not unusual to see first-alarm units arriving with 2,000 gallons or more aboard, and the majority of the time this amount of water is sufficient for residential and small commercial properties.  This capacity allows for a serious initial attack, but for sustained operations a command decision must be made quickly.  With proper planning, the request for more water will automatically bring the necessary resources and trained personnel from mutual aid companies who have practiced water supply techniques.  The value of a mutual aid system that practices together regularly comes in  additional points earned during ISO classification surveys.  With water supply planning and water delivery practice a department can improve its ISO classification, even in areas not served by public hydrants.  This may result in reduced insurance rates for property owners.  Without planning and practice, water delivery rates up to 600-800 gpm may be difficult at best.  With planning and practice rates over 800 gpm are possible and many communities do better.  The good news is it is possible and practical to improve supplies for public protection—the down-side is that it will take work.

Fundamentals
Alternative water supplies must be both adequate and reliable, every day, year round.  They must be inspected and maintained frequently.  Supply sources are either impounded (cistern, tank, storage facility, pond, or lake) or free flowing (stream, river, etc.)  In any situation it is highly recommended that a dry hydrant be installed.  Dry hydrants consist of a permanent piping system (plastic or metal) installed so as to provide ready access to an alternative water source.  Before discussing the types of sources it is necessary to note that the department must secure the permission of property owners on whose land alternative sources are located.

The NFPA provides detailed specifications for various types of alternative sources.  Generally speaking, your department can handle much of the planning and development work.   However, most departments find it practical to hire contractors for some of the construction and dry hydrant installation work.  For ISO to consider an alternative source as part of the community’s total water supply, a registered professional engineer must certify the capacity of both  impounded and flowing sources.

When selecting alternative supplies the following must be considered:  the minimum required supply  should be available at not over 15 feet of lift from the pump inlet, the supply should not be susceptible to severe drought conditions, the supply should be accessible to fire apparatus at all times of the year, and there must be a method for drafting water when the surface is frozen.  The problems of maximum pump lift, source accessibility, and frozen surfaces can be solved by installation of a dry hydrant.  Other departments have solved or addressed most of these problems.  Your job is to find out what others have learned.

Firefighters have developed some ingenious, reliable, and dependable means of delivering water to rural fire scenes.  In most cases you will be able to develop a combination of sources and use a combination of methods to move the water to where it is needed.  It may only be enough to provide a supply for defensive operations, but isn’t that better than trying to excuse a devastating loss?  In the best of situations it will provide sufficient water and result in minimal loss to property.  Finally, don’t forget to write standard operating guidelines for water supply.  Many departments find it useful to appoint a water supply officer whose specialized function is to inspect sources, maintain sources and dry hydrants, and take command of large-scale water supply operations.  By assigning someone to command water supply operations, the incident commander is free to concentrate on general command and control needs during an emergency.

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For fire departments with hydrant systems the question of method for water supply delivery is easy—it is relayed via hose to the fireground.  For many other fire departments the choice is not so clear.  Actually, the question should not be which single method of water delivery is best, but which method, or combination of methods, will work best for a given set of circumstances.

Communities differ in characteristics such as geography, topography, and needed fire flow for suppression purposes.  Fire departments differ in equipment, apparatus, availability of personnel, and operational capability.  Department culture, tradition, and general philosophy also affect operations.  Strong differences in operational philosophy can exist between neighboring departments and can affect the outcome of a serious fire requiring mutual aid.  How many neighboring towns still have different size hose threads on their hydrants?  As in any debate between well-intentioned advocates, the answer to the method of delivery question lies somewhere in between the viewpoints.  In this debate the answer depends upon the combination of specific differences.

Where to start
Either method or combination of methods may or may not work.  Reasons for failure can include people, equipment, apparatus, adverse weather, and accidents.  Given the variables, and the potential for success or failure of either method, it is not surprising so many water supply operations go bad.  So how can a fire department determine the best method for delivering the needed fire flow?  Begin by listing water supply resources (e.g., hose, adapters, appliances, pump types and capacities, location and distances of alternative water sources).  Conduct a complete evaluation of tanker capability.  Include a survey to determine needed fire flow in groupings of buildings (fire management areas).  If your department depends on surrounding towns for mutual aid, your study will have to include similar data about those departments.

Water supply via hose relay
Options for departments without tankers are limited to hose relays from hydrants or static sources, and the task is to find ways to maximize water delivery.  Problems with relays include the  time required to set-up the operation and that it may not be able to deliver the needed fire flow.  LDH or large diameter hose (4-inch or 5-inch), is essential for effective water delivery.  For rural departments seeking an ISO Public Protection Classification, 250 gpm (gal./min.) is the minimum acceptable delivery rate.

Pumping capability limitations include the need for providing a minimum residual pressure of 20 psi (lbs./sq. in.), allowance for friction losses in hose, allowance for elevation losses, and total rated capacity of the pump—all affect the distance a given flow can be pumped.  Consider a fire department Class A pumper operating from draft, the pump rated at 1,000 gpm, carrying 1,000 feet of 4-inch LDH supply line, and pumping on fairly level terrain.

The 1,000 gpm pumper can easily relay 500 gpm through 1,000 feet of 4-inch hose.  In fact the pumper could actually relay that amount 2,500 feet.  That same pumper attempting to relay 750 gpm, through 4-inch LDH, could do so for a distance of 1,100 feet.  At a needed fire flow of 1,000 gpm the total distance is reduced to 700 feet.  The limitation here is the total discharge pressure available (150 psi) at the rated capacity (1,000 gpm) of the test pumper.  From 150 psi, subtract 20 psi for residual pressure—leaving the remaining 130 psi available to compensate for friction and elevation losses.  Departments limited to relays must work within these constraints.

By increasing the diameter of the supply line to 5-inches, a 1,000 gpm pumper can move 1,500 gpm for 1,000 feet—a 50 percent increase in capability!  But remember that large diameter hose is heavy and long relays require physical labor.  A 100 ft. section of 4-inch LDH alone weighs about 70 pounds and a 5-inch piece weighs about 100 pounds; filled with water, the respective weights are 616 and 953 pounds.  There is a price to pay for efficiency.

Water supply via tankers and shuttles
Tankers can obtain water from distant hydrants or from pumpers at drafting sites.  The average for rate of travel is considered, for planning purposes, to be approximately 35 miles per hour.  There are several methods of dispensing water once it is arrives on scene.  It can be pumped-off to a pumper/tanker, pumped-off into a “rural hitch” (a supply line fitted with a clappered siamese at one end and attached to an attack pumper at the other end), or dumped into a portable tank from which another pumper drafts.  Effective water shuttles require planning, but generally can be placed in operation quicker and with fewer personnel than a hose relay.

Tank trucks must be evaluated to determine their continuous flow capability (the minimum amount of water in gallons per minute they can deliver).  This evaluation includes measuring effective carrying capacity, handling time (time required to fill and dump), and travel time.  The key to effective tanker shuttle operation is reducing handling time.  Achieving this requires proper design and construction of tank trucks, trained personnel at fill and dump sites, and continual training.  Limitations include travel distance, travel time, road conditions, pumping capacity at the fill site, and continuous flow capability.

Relay or shuttle?—practical guidelines
A relay with large diameter hose is most practical when the needed fire flow is large (over 500 gpm) and the source of supply is less than 2,000 feet away from the fire scene.  When the needed fire flow is less than 500 gpm and the distance to the source of supply is considerable, tankers generally offer the quickest means.  Generally speaking, the longer the distance you have to haul water, the bigger the tanker required.  Small, light tankers in the range of 1,000 to 1,500 gallons are practical for typical rural fire protection needs.  You can use a combination of the two methods to develop effective delivery systems, but it takes planning and practice.

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