Annual Tanker Taskforce Drill with Harleysville and surrounding stations

Last Tuesday evening, while our members were at our weekly training, a crew took Engine 75 over to participate in Harleysville Fire Company’s Annual Tanker Taskforce.

A tanker task force is called when a structural fire or emergency requires water supply, however a local water supply or a hydrant is inadequate or unavailable. Without a close water supply, fire companies must stretch their resources farther for water. At this time a tanker task force would be called through the incident commander to dispatch. Dispatch then alerts a pre-arranged group of mutual aid departments.

Once a tanker task force is dispatched, multiple companies start a water supply relay. An engine goes to the closest available hydrant or source of water, which could be a pond, creek, or anything alike. The crew sets up a pony section of 5 inch from the hydrant to the truck. Another pony section of 5 inch is used to supply the phantom pumper. The phantom pumper takes in the water from the 5 inch section and splits it into 5 sections. It splits into one 5 inch section and four 3 inch sections. From there, four hose lines are connected to the 3 inch sections. Two of the 3 inch hoses are stretched to one area while the other two 3 inch hoses are stretched out to another area. The tankers pull up to the end of the hose in which the hose gets connected to the tanker. The individual manning the phantom pumper then opens the valves so water starts flowing through the hoses until the tanker’s supply is full. The hoses get disconnected and the tankers are sent to the next part of the relay.

The tankers then go to the dump site which is at the fire scene or near it. The dump site contains portable water tanks in which the tankers empty their water supply into these tanks. The tankers continue with the relay, going back to the fill site and continuing the cycle.

The ability to participate in tanker task force training allows fire companies to be familiar with how to run a tanker task force. Knowing how a tanker task force works will help the operation to run smoothly if a tanker task force is called.

The tanker task force consisted of engines, tankers, and squads from fire companies from Harleysville, Telford, Upper Frederick, Lower Frederick, Tylersport, Red Hill, Towamencin, Worcester, Upper Salford, Green Lane, Perkiomen and Trappe.

After the training, all companies met up and discussed what went well and what could have been improved during the training. During this time, Moyer’s provided snacks and refreshments for all firefighters and fire police who participated in the training. A special thank you was given to Mike and the Moyer’s team.

Check out photos below from the drill. Photo credit to Powercall Photos and our own firefighter Eamon.