PLYMOUTH VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

Training

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Hose Test Before we start our hose test and after we are done we have a short meeting to discuss what we will be doing and what each firefighter's duties will be. It takes a lot of help to make sure everything is done correctly and safely. After the testing or training we meet to cover any upcoming projects and cover any important changes that need to be covered. We set up the pumper at the end of center street by the hydrant where we get our water for testing the hose. We stretch out 3 lengths of hose (150' total) at a time. We normally test 4 sections at time. As you can see we have a lot more stretched out but only pressure test 4 at a time. We have basically three sizes of hose we use. 1 1/2", 3" & 5". The 1 1/2" size hose is what we call hand lines that we use to fight the fire the other bigger size hose is supply line we use to get water to the engine from the hydrant. Flowing Water Test: Before we pressure test the hose we need to flow water through it until all the air is pushed out and we have a good flow of water. Then we shut the nozzle off and pressure test the hose to 250 psi for 5 minutes to ensure it does not burst. This is very important to ensure we don't have a hose burst during a fire. Dave Shook & Wayne Smith Cleaning Hose. Each year when we pressure test the hose we also clean it by running it through the hose wash seen here. We also wash our hose after we use it to keep the dirt and grime off of it after fires.