WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Now i know this sounds like a stupid question, but what is the point of having hose reels aboard pumper type appliances (Urban Pump/Medium Pump etc.)

You are not constantly unwinding the reels, giving it some water, and winding the reels back up and moveing the vehicle like you do during bush fire operations, and every time I have seen a pumper in operation, the crew is always using lay-flat hose, not the reels. So what exactly is the point of having 2x 90m reels aboard every pumper??

Cheers

they get used on bush fires as they are easier to reel out in the bush and then wind back up faster than rolling a lay flat up to go and get water,as i have seen it 1st hand at the brigadoon fire when an frs crew helped us stop a fire approaching a house as we were almost out of water in our 1.4 was a lot easier dragging the hose reel through the bush than a lay flat would have..plus they dont use the water up on the pump as fast as what a lay flat does.

I have also seen the hose reels on the pumps used in grass and bush fires, particularly around mop up time to help speed things up, rather than have a 4WD worry about the flat grassy perimeter let a pump handle that and send the LT's and other 4WD appliances into the rocky area's that the pump can't back up into.

The FRS has hose reels on their pumps for first strike operations and ease of operation. At most house fires, car fires or anything smaller than a factory fire they are the easiest thing to use. Just grab it and go. After the initial strike crews may use flaked hose but generally the hose reel gets used a lot more than 40 or 60mm hose. A lot easier and and quicker to make up