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Development of a Recommended Standard for Off-Highway, Ground

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Development of a Recommended Standard for Off-Highway, Ground NOT Restricted to FERIC Members and Partners Vol. 7 No. 13 July 2006 Contents Development of a recommended 1 Introduction standard for off-highway, ground-based 1 Objectives 2 Equipment description water delivery systems for Alberta 2 Methods 2 Observations Abstract 5 Discussion The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) surveyed off-high- 7 Implementa- way, ground-based water delivery systems working in Alberta wildland fire operations to tion develop a recommended standard for these types of systems. This report contains infor- 9 References mation useful in the design and operation of mobile water delivery equipment in sup- 9 Acknowledge- port of Alberta fire operations. ments Keywords Water delivery systems, Tanks, Fire management, Fire suppression, Wildfires, Safety, Alberta. Author Introduction Alberta Sustainable Resource Develop- Ray Ault, The primary role of off-highway, ment (SRD) asked FERIC to develop a rec- Wildland Fire Operations ommended minimum standard for tanks Research Group ground-based water delivery systems is to support wildfire operations during mop-up used to carry water on off-highway vehicles and control conditions that are common in support of wildfire operations. This re- when the head fire intensity is less than 500 port presents the recommended standards, kW/m.1 The system consists of a prime which are intended to provide guidance to mover, water storage container, pump, hose, contractors building tanks and to improve and valves. In Alberta, the prime movers in- the safety and effectiveness of water delivery clude skidders, forwarders, high-flotation all- on the fireline. Ultimately, however, the fire terrain vehicles, and tracked oil field support conditions and equipment availability will vehicles. These water delivery systems pro- continue to dictate the hire of equipment for vide a cost-effective means of extinguishing fire suppression. fire in locations where water is limited, the pumping distance is great, a volume of wa- Objectives ter is required, or system mobility is an ad- FERIC had the following objectives: vantage. • Survey and describe off-highway equip- Often during large wildland fires, fire ment currently being used to deliver crews aim to suppress all smouldering mate- water for fire suppression in Alberta. rial 100 m (300 ft.) into the fire from a fuel Identify any limitations to this equip- break along the fire’s edge. The terrain and ment’s use on the fireline. forest cover in Alberta is variable, and the stability of prime movers used in these op- erations can be reduced due to slope and 1 The head fire intensity is the energy released per metre ground roughness. of fire front measured in kilowatts per metre. • Develop a recommended minimum Where possible, information on the standard for off-highway, ground-based pump, tank volume, attachments, and foam mobile water delivery systems used in system was collected. support of Alberta wildland fire opera- tions. Observations Equipment description Equipment FERIC observed several types of equip- The equipment that FERIC observed was ment used in off-highway, ground-based suited for working in rough, steep, or soft water delivery systems. terrain in areas where water for fire suppres- sion was not readily available. The equipment Vehicles can be classified into two categories: • Skidders with mounted tanks – 1363 • Equipment active in forest harvesting or to 2726 L (300 to 600 gal.2) in support of oil and gas development • Skidders pulling trailer-mounted tanks • Older equipment that has been perma- – 4362 to 6816 L (960 to 1500 gal.) nently modified and that is used specifi- • Forwarders with mounted tanks – 1363 cally for wildfire operations to 8407 L (300 to 1850 gal.) Most of the skidders that FERIC ob- • Tracked carriers with mounted tanks served carried 1363 to 2273 L (300 to 500 (e.g., Bombardier and Nodwell carriers) gal.). The tracked carriers typically carried – 1363 to 9089 L (300 to 2000 gal.) 1363 to 5000 L (300 to 1100 gal.). The • Rubber-tired, high-flotation truck with tanks were usually constructed of metal, al- mounted tanks though a few owners had recently begun to use pre-formed plastic agricultural tanks. The Tank concepts water delivery systems were often simple, and • Permanent mounting required little training to operate and main- • Temporary mounting tain. Few of the systems observed were capa- • Materials ble of delivering foam. – steel Contractors generally focused on low- – plastic (polyethylene) cost, functional design modifications to • Shape equipment. Several water-carrying systems – rectangular observed were based on cylindrical petroleum – cylindrical tanks modified for fire application (Figure • With baffles, without baffles 1). However, in some cases the tank volume appeared inappropriate for the size of the Methods prime mover. Currently, no guidelines exist FERIC photographed, measured, and re- in Alberta to help contractors determine tank corded information on off-highway, ground- size, pump, or foam system needs. However, based water delivery systems used at the the USDA Forest Service has a general guide- Chisholm, Dog Rib, Callington, and Duffield 2 Unless otherwise noted, gallons in this report are fires in 2001, and at Lost Creek in 2003. imperial gallons. Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) Eastern Division and Head Office Western Division Disclaimer 580 boul. St-Jean 2601 East Mall Advantage is published solely to disseminate information to FERIC’s mem- Pointe-Claire, QC, H9R 3J9 Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4 bers and partners. It is not intended as an endorsement or approval of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. (514) 694-1140 (604) 228-1555 (514) 694-4351 (604) 228-0999 © Copyright 2006. Printed in Canada on recycled paper. [email protected] [email protected] Vol. 7 No. 13 2 Advantage July 2006 ISSN 1493-3381 line for water-carrying capacity of skidder Figure 1. Used oil tanks based on flywheel horsepower, which tank mounted is shown in the Implementation section of temporarily on this report (Taylor et al. 2003). skidder arch for In a well-designed tank system, the tank water delivery. placement provides stability, the tank is at- tached to the skidder with steel pins, and the pump and attachments are easily reached from the ground. An example of a well-de- signed tank system is shown in Figure 2. FERIC did not find any written policies on how forest officers should choose equip- ment, but it appeared that the officers drew Figure 2. upon their experience to evaluate and hire Illustration of a equipment based on appropriateness to the good tank design. task at hand. The equipment was hired and utilized on an “as and when needed” contract basis. This meant that work was not guaran- teed and an operator’s ability to recover capi- tal investment depended upon fire occurrence. The payment structure separated the rates paid for the prime mover and for the tank/ pump system. Payment for foam systems was negotiated separately. Generally, the off-highway, ground- tractors arrived at the fire with equipment based water delivery systems that are best incompatible for use with standard forestry suited to specific fire conditions remain on discharge and suction hoses.4 This meant their the work site for the longest period, provid- equipment could not be used effectively. ing the owner with higher revenue. A pre- Licensed highway water trucks often use registration program with the province gives a 10 cm (4 in.) hose to transfer water to off- hiring preference to those contractors who highway tanks. All fireline tanks should be have had an equipment safety check, have equipped with a minimum 10 cm (4 in.) signed contracts in advance of the fire sea- diameter or larger fill hole to allow venting son, and have a Certificate of Recognition.3 for inflow water and to facilitate filling by water truck. Water delivery The primary tasks assigned to off-high- During the field survey, FERIC found way, ground-based water delivery systems that dewatering, trash, and pressure pumps included filling synthetic holding tanks (Fig- were all used to supply water to the fireline. ure 3) and directly supporting crews on the Most of these pumps were powered by small fireline. Some tank units are designed for fill- 2.6 to 5.6 kW (3.5 to 7.5 hp) Honda motors. ing on the fireline by a helicopter bucket (Fig- A subsequent FERIC test found that Honda ure 4). This is particularly useful when the pressure pump models WH15 and WH20 travel distance for the ground vehicle is sig- were well suited for use in mop-up opera- tions with a tank system under 2272 L (500 3 More information about Certificates of Recognition is gal.) and with short hose lays under 170 m available at the following Government of Alberta Website: http://www3.gov.ab.ca/hre/whs/partners/ (500 ft.). cor.asp The warehouse staff working at the 4 Al Walker, Supply Unit Leader, Chisholm Fire, personal Chisholm fire noted that some of the con- communication, May 2001. Vol. 7 No. 13 Advantage July 2006 3 a suitable practice. As an alternative, several Figure 3. Water truck filling a Class A foam injection systems are available synthetic portable on the market. Current Alberta Fire Protec- holding tank tion Division policy recognizes wildfire foam (22 700 L) for use as an invaluable fire suppression tool and that by skidder. foam should be used to improve the effi- ciency of water application where it will re- duce the overall cost of extinguishing the fire without causing health or environmental problems (Alberta Environmental Protection 2001). Few of the tanks had water level indica- Figure 4. The tank tors to help crews manage the water, and nei- mounted on the ther pump performance nor tank volume was FMC forwarder marked on the tank.
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