No they don't buy all new hose every time, but it does come from large regional caches where it is cleaned, tested and repackaged after use so even much of the used hose looks new when they are done with it.
I have received hose that has obviously been used, but a good amount of it is new. I couldn't even start to guess how much new hose is purchased each year by these caches, but I'm sure it is in the millions of feet realm.
The standard portable pump is the Pacific Marine (now Wajax) Mark 3, a 60 gpm @ 150 psi four stage high pressure pump that weighs about 60 lbs. At low pressures they can move about 100 gpm and have a maximum pressure of 380 psi but only move about 10 gpm at that pressure. That may not sound like much of a pump but these long hose lays are primarily for mop up, not direct firefighting. They are also frequently used in series or parallel to boost performance.
When greater volume is required these pumps are still useful to keep the folda-tanks full for engines to pump from. We had eight 1000 gallon folda-tanks at 4 water points being filled with these pumps to keep the engines and water tenders filled, just on our division.
The hose lays we put in were placed along dozer indirect lines in preparation for a potential firing operation if the direct attack fails (as it has repeatedly done due to spot fires up to 1/2 mile in front of the fire). The 7000 foot lay only had 200 feet of elevation gain with a pump on one end (the high end, so it would be pumping mostly downhill) and two 1000 gallon folda-tanks at the other in case it needed an engine to support it due to pump failure or need for greater volume. The other hose lays were 3000 feet pumped from a creek by two Mark 3's in parallel (pumps in the middle and only 100 feet of elevation gain) and 3700 feet downhill from an engine with two 1000 gallon folda-tanks supported by water tenders. The trunk lays are 1 1/2" hose with a gated wye and 100 foot 1" lateral hose every 200 feet.
I have received hose that has obviously been used, but a good amount of it is new. I couldn't even start to guess how much new hose is purchased each year by these caches, but I'm sure it is in the millions of feet realm.
The standard portable pump is the Pacific Marine (now Wajax) Mark 3, a 60 gpm @ 150 psi four stage high pressure pump that weighs about 60 lbs. At low pressures they can move about 100 gpm and have a maximum pressure of 380 psi but only move about 10 gpm at that pressure. That may not sound like much of a pump but these long hose lays are primarily for mop up, not direct firefighting. They are also frequently used in series or parallel to boost performance.
When greater volume is required these pumps are still useful to keep the folda-tanks full for engines to pump from. We had eight 1000 gallon folda-tanks at 4 water points being filled with these pumps to keep the engines and water tenders filled, just on our division.
The hose lays we put in were placed along dozer indirect lines in preparation for a potential firing operation if the direct attack fails (as it has repeatedly done due to spot fires up to 1/2 mile in front of the fire). The 7000 foot lay only had 200 feet of elevation gain with a pump on one end (the high end, so it would be pumping mostly downhill) and two 1000 gallon folda-tanks at the other in case it needed an engine to support it due to pump failure or need for greater volume. The other hose lays were 3000 feet pumped from a creek by two Mark 3's in parallel (pumps in the middle and only 100 feet of elevation gain) and 3700 feet downhill from an engine with two 1000 gallon folda-tanks supported by water tenders. The trunk lays are 1 1/2" hose with a gated wye and 100 foot 1" lateral hose every 200 feet.
Aaron Woods
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