11/01/2026
This morning at 0800 Hours, Eagle Firefighters went over to the New Hope-Solebury School District parking lot between the high school and the stadium off of Bridge Street to conduct some practical training with Special Service 46.
Special Service 46 laid 800' of 5" LDH in a loop around the parking lot which allowed members to see both the supply and attack side of the operation. The TFT manifold was set up, and (2) 1.75" lines, a 2.5" line, a 3" line feeding a BlitzFire ground attack monitor, and a 25' 3" pony line feeding the CrossFire on the rig were all set up. Tanker 46 was set up to feed the operation, using a 5" line from the hydrant to the Auto-Fill valve to keep the tank full, simulating mutual aid tankers feeding the truck. This arrangement provides fewer fluctuations in pump pressure with the tanker operating off its own tank through its dual 4" tank-to-pump valves. Various combinations of the handlines were flowed, at 320 GPM, 585 GPM and 1060 GPM. Tanker 46 was able to keep up with all of the configurations, with working off the tank maxing out at about 1200 GPM through SS46's deckgun.
A similar operation followed using Tac 64 to feed the operation off of the hydrant. Tac 64 has a 1000 GPM pump but doesn't have an LDH discharge. Instead, two 3" lines were run into the recently acquired Siamese appliance to feed the 5" hose. Tac 64 produced similar results with feeding the lines, maxing out at 1250 GPM feeding the different configurations of hose lines. The truck was able to exceed it's rated capacity by using two 5" supply lines from a strong hydrant. (Fire apparatus pumps are rated at draft and can exceed their rating on a pressurized source). Members received some valuable experience calculating the friction loss and pump discharge pressures required to correctly feed the hand lines.
Once all of the testing was completed, lines were drained and repacked following a quick critique. Valuable practical experience with the new truck and equipment was gained today, and we'll continue to practice to allow us to have options on real incidents.
Thank you to the New Hope-Solebury School District for the opportunity to practice at their facility. The parking lot allowed us to train out of traffic and to keep the hose and equipment as clean as possible.
