Mechanical Fire-Fighting Equipment 



By G. Gerald Blyth, Dominion Parks Branch, Ottawa, Canada 



FIRE protection in the Dominion Parks situated in 

 the Rocky Mountains of Western Canada presents 

 many interesting problems, one of the most difficult 

 being the delivery of water to a fire. The old-fashioned 



AX AID IN FIGHTING FOREST FIRES 



On the left a two-cylinder, four to five horsepower gasoline engine and pump. This 

 can be mounted on the truck. It develops about 125 pounds of pressure through 

 one thousand feet of hose. The outfit can be hauled by horse or man power and 

 is most efficient in forest fire fighting. 



fire-fighting equipment, namely, the ax, shovel, 

 mattock and canvas water bucket, whereas ab- 

 solutely indispensable, must soon pass into the 

 background to be superseded by more effective 

 equipment of a mechanical nature. It has been 

 found by experience that it is exceedingly diffi- 

 cult to completely extinguish a fire without the 

 application of water. Carrying water to a fire 

 by manual labor in pails or buckets is, as a rule, 

 a laborious task, and, indeed; in some cases 

 almost out of the question, especially up a steep 

 mountain slope. The need of a more efficient 

 method of carrying water to a fire and distribut- 

 ing it sparingly thereon has been apparent for a 

 considerable time, and to meet this want the 

 Department of the Interior of Canada, Dominion 

 Parks Branch, has recently designed and con- 

 structed a portable gasoline pumping unit, 

 equipped with 1,000 feet of one-inch rubber- 

 lined hose, which, it is confidently expected, will 

 fully measure up to the expectations of those 

 associated with its construction. 



The gasoline engine market was carefully searched for 

 a light and thoroughly portable gasoline engine of the 

 two-cycle type. After a careful investigation had been 



made of several different engines, a suitable one was 

 finally decided upon; one of from four to five horse- 

 power, two cylinder, equipped with a Bosch magneto. 

 This engine was mounted on an aluminum base and direct 

 connected to a rotary pump made of bronze. 

 The engine has a speed of approximately 1,200 

 r.p.m. The pump has a suction port 2 inches, 

 and a delivery of iy 2 inches in diameter. The 

 maximum water pressure is about 100 to 125 

 pounds at the pump, which is capable of deliv- 

 ering water through 1,000 feet of 1-inch rubber 

 hose, or 1,500 feet of lJ/2-inch unlined linen 

 fiose. The engine and pump weighs but 118 

 pounds. 



Suitable means of carrying this outfit over 

 wagon roads in the parks, as well as over trails, 

 and even through the bush, had to be considered. 

 A truck was therefore constructed similar to 

 the illustration, on which the engine and pump 

 were mounted. A special auxiliary truck was 

 also constructed for carrying the balance of the 

 hose assigned to the unit. The engine truck, 

 besides carrying the engine and pump, also car- 

 ries 200 feet of 1-inch rubber-lined hose, tools, 

 gasoline, oil, carrying handles and straps. The 



THE HOSE TRUCK 



This is an auxiliary to the engine truck and has four metal reels mounted on 

 spindles each having a capacity of 800 feet of one-inch hose. Each reel is 

 detachable and quite portable. 



truck can either be hauled by horse or man power, 

 and the wheels have a gauge of 3 feet 3 inches. 

 When the country becomes too rough to permit of carry- 

 ing this equipment on the truck, the engine and pump are 



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