Assessing Rural Water Supply: a Geospatial Approach by Jeremy A

Continuing Education Course

Assessing Rural Water Supply: A Geospatial Approach By Jeremy A. Keller

TRAINING THE FIRE SERVICE FOR 136 YEARS

To earn continuing education credits, you must successfully complete the course examination. The cost for this CE exam is $25.00. For group rates, call (973) 251-5055. Assessing Rural Water Supply: A Geospatial Approach

Educational Objectives On completion of this course, students will

1) Learn why access to a dependable water supply is needed. 3) Determine why water supply matters.

2) Discover why off-site water supplies cause operational chal- 4) Lean an assessment model to determine how to assess your lenges. water supply options.

BY JEREMY A. KELLER adequate for rapid fire apparatus deployment. Agents. Water is the extinguishing agent for almost all fire ccess to dependable water supply suffic- suppression strategies and in some rural areas can be hard ient to achieve needed fire flows (NFF) is critical for to come by. Areas with limited natural water supplies may re- A any fire department, but for rural departments, this quire reinforcement with manmade static sources. Even areas can pose special challenges. Rural departments often have lim- blessed with numerous streams and ponds may find that these ited access to pressurized municipal hydrant systems and must sources require improvement to be truly effective firefighting instead draft from static water sources to supply water shuttles water sources. supporting fire suppression operations. Hardware. Rural departments must invest in the apparatus Relying on off-site, often distantly located water supplies and equipment necessary to fully exploit their water supply that are connected to the fire scene by a complex water shut- network. Tanker apparatus (water tenders) are the backbone tle system creates operational challenges unique to the rural of successful rural water supply operations. An investment environment. Rural departments must master the art of iden- must also be made in the pumps, the drop tanks, the tools, tifying and exploiting existing and potential water supplies in and the appliances needed to support aggressive drafting and their operational area. Drafting and water shuttle operations shuttle operations. are basic items in the operational toolbox of rural firefighters. 1 In the second edition of The Rural Firefighting Handbook, Dominic Colletti identifies the factors that must be ad- dressed to successfully execute firefighting operations.1 Colletti’s “Big Five” are time, agents, hardware, people, and procedures. Each factor is deeply inter- twined with water supply issues in the rural fire environment. Time. The wider the geographic spacing of a rural water supply network, the longer it will take, on average, to get water to where it is needed. This is further complicated by rural Photos by author. road networks, which can be less than www.FireEngineeringUniversity.com rural water supply ●

Figure 1. Distance from Water Sources Public GIS Data Sources National Hydrographic Dataset (NHD): a comprehensive database of streams and water bodies (e.g., ponds, lakes) maintained by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Although not every single farm pond will be found in the NHD, it is a good baseline reference for locating most peren- nial streams and permanent static water sources. Link: http:// nhd.usgs.gov/. Stream Gages: a national network of watershed stream gages maintained by the USGS and cooperating organizations. Historic data available for many streams can help determine their suitability as a potential water source. Link: http:// waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt. National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP): a program managed by the United States Department of Agricul- ture that captures aerial photos of agricultural areas during growing season. Full color imagery is regularly updated for most areas and is provided at one-meter resolution. This imagery can be used to help locate potential water sources not visible from the ground. Update cycles vary by state and county. Link: http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/. Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER): This large dataset maintained by the United States Census Bureau includes such diverse data as One-mile road distance increments from developed water political boundaries, place names, landmarks, and some hy- sources are depicted in color (green = closest, red = the most drology. Although TIGER road data are not the most accurate distant). Dark-green concentrations represent areas with pressurized hydrants or developed static water sources (usually dry source available, they are pretty good and can be used when hydrants). Orange and red concentrations show the areas of more accurate local sources are not available. TIGER data can weakest water supply network coverage. The superimposed be linked to other Census data to help establish potential road network shows how the distance-based polygons follow the values-at-risk (e.g., population, housing units). Link: http:// roadways away from the water sources. (Figures 1-6 by author.) www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/shp.html.

People. Sufficient personnel must be recruited and trained safely, particularly on rural roadways. The tendency of the to effectively operate a staff-intensive rural water supply large volumes of water to surge is a well-studied contributor operation. Rural firefighters and support staff need training to the frequent injuries and fatalities resulting from tanker ap- and experience in the specialized skills required for rural paratus rollovers. A well-planned rural water supply network water supply operations. Department personnel must be able with optimal spacing between sources can reduce the time to draft from available water sources, set up drop tanks and that tankers need to be on the road and thereby reduce the other specialized equipment, and understand their role in a hazards associated with operating these apparatus.2 water shuttle operation. Drivers must be able to safely and ef- Public safety. The availability of a robust water supply sys- fectively operate tanker apparatus on marginal roads. tem enhances the fire department’s ability to provide excellent Procedures. Water supply in a rural setting is an inherently fire protection to the rural public. Minimizing the distance that complex operation. Departments and their mutual-aid partners fire tankers must travel on rural roadways during water supply must have procedures in place to facilitate operations that can operations further enhances public safety by reducing oppor- effectively achieve needed fire flow requirements for every tunities for traffic accidents involving fire apparatus. incident. Insurance rates. The local fire department can leverage well-designed rural water supply networks to achieve better WHY WATER SUPPLY MATTERS fire protection ratings from the Insurance Services Office (ISO) Although this may at first seem a no-brainer, it is instruc- or similar state rating agencies. In turn, this can result in cost tive to review factors that should make development of an savings to residents and businesses that benefit from lower effective water supply network a high priority for any rural fire insurance rates. fire department. Firefighter safety. You cannot conduct fire suppression PREPLANNING safely without timely delivery of adequate water supplies to the Establishing adequate water supply for rural fire incidents scene. A robust, well-planned rural water supply network great- begins with intensive preplanning long before operations ly enhances the safety of firefighters engaged in operations. commence. Each rural fire jurisdiction is unique, and the Tanker operations. Although tanker apparatus are not characteristics of potentially viable water supplies vary wide- necessarily inherently unsafe, they are difficult to operate ly depending on climate, terrain, road networks, land owner-

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ship, and a host of other factors. There is one universal truth, availability can also be factored in, allowing you to analyze however: Encyclopedic knowledge of local water supplies is water supply networks under conditions in which some the hallmark of professionalism in the rural fire service. sources are known to dry up, freeze, or otherwise become To develop and make a potential rural water supply source unavailable (photo 2). fully useful for fire protection purposes, it must be known, GIS analysis can also determine the areas where values- characterized, and accessible.3,4 at-risk are concentrated, aiding in prioritizing water source Known. You must identify potential water supply sources development. You can effectively and defensibly differentiate through preincident reconnaissance. Although you can ease areas based on population, housing unit density, or other fac- the burden of this process somewhat by using aerial photog- tors. raphy and other geospatial tools discussed below, you will al- Modeling a water supply network with GIS also enables you ways need on-the-ground verification to confirm the suitability to conduct a “What-if?” analysis before committing to develop of water resources. a new source. You can add potential water sources identified Characterized. Once you have identified potential wa- during assessment to the GIS model and rerun the model with ter sources, you must size them up for their suitability for the new source included. This will initially indicate whether fire protection. Potential water source factors that you must the candidate water source will actually perform as desired, determine are the total usable volume, any seasonal restric- given its location, road networks, and other factors. tions (e.g., freezing and drought), ownership, and accessibility. You should assess and improve a rural water supply net- Assess potential sources for their ability to accommodate im- work with the full participation of relevant partner organiza- provements to enhance drafting such as dry hydrants, drafting tions. The specific organization will vary by state and locality basins, or apparatus staging pads (photo 1). but generally will include the local conservation district and Accessible. Once you have identified a potential water the state natural resources agency. The United States Depart- source and found it suitable for fire protection, you must ment of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Ser- determine its accessibility. Physically, the source must be vice (NRCS) is another potential partner you can generally situated such that fire apparatus can successfully draft from contact through the local conservation district. Other federal it, which generally means that the source is relatively close agencies may be valuable partners as well, particularly for to a roadway of some kind, although the specific distance areas with concentrations of federally managed lands. Engag- will depend on each department’s capabilities. The source ing these partners can provide departments access to GIS, must also be legally available for the fire department to use. engineering, and hydrology expertise and, in some cases, in- Whether publicly or privately owned, this will likely require roads to grant funds to support water source improvements. the department to negotiate to obtain maximum access to the water source. AN ASSESSMENT MODEL Geospatial information systems (GIS) are a powerful tool As a conceptual framework for analyzing a rural water sup- for rural fire departments to assess and improve their water ply network, consider using the following four-phase model. supply networks. The basic data a department needs to iden- The process described here is based on the well-known tify, characterize, and expand its water supply network are Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop process. available free for download from public sources for use in GIS Define the current situation. The fire department must applications (see “Public GIS Data Sources” sidebar). 1characterize the existing water supply situation as accu- Beyond simply providing a map of water sources, you can rately as possible. First, it should identify all existing devel- use GIS technology to produce a model of your department’s oped water resources and, using global positioning systems water source network, identifying which water sources are (GPS), maps, or aerial photos, obtain an accurate location for closest to a given location based on actual road distances and each source. Collecting additional water source data can make estimated travel times instead of simply estimating straight- the analysis more powerful. Consider collecting data on flow line distances (Figure 1). Seasonal variations in water source rates, seasonal limitations, connector types and sizes, threads,

www.FireEngineeringUniversity.com rural water supply ● and accessibility. The department Figure 2. Fire Department Coverage Area will probably have to collect these data if they do not already exist. Consider factors affecting water source access and usability. Road networks are the primary data source for this purpose. Ensure you use geographically accurate road data to allow a baseline distance analysis. Road data should also include traffic factors includ- ing speed limits, slope/grade, and pavement conditions, which can be used to develop a time-based analysis too. Identify mobility barriers such as weight-restricted bridges and rail crossings to more accurately characterize the ability of apparatus to move about on the road network. You can obtain basic road network data from the United States Census Bureau’s Topologically Integrated Geo- graphic Encoding and Referencing The West Liberty (OH) Fire Department protects the village of West Liberty and all or parts (TIGER) system, although more of six adjacent townships in Logan (green) and Champaign (brown) counties. accurate data can often be ob-

Figure 3. Distance from Existing and Potential Water Sources

The distances represent one-way road mileage from existing (left) and proposed (right) developed water sources. Orange and red areas represent those most distant from a water supply. Purple areas are within 1,000 feet of pressurized hydrants.

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Figure 4. Travel Time from Existing and Potential Water Sources

One-way travel time in minutes from existing (left) and proposed (right) developed water sources. Orange and red areas represent those most distant from a water supply. Purple areas are within 1,000 feet of pressurized hydrants.

tained locally from dispatch centers, county engineer offices, tify those areas of weakest coverage based on actual road and other sources. distances and travel times. Finally, the department needs to know what values are Mitigation planning. Once it has identified areas of cov- at risk. Population and housing unit data are two primary 3erage weakness, the department can begin to develop a examples. This information is available free from the United mitigation strategy to address deficiencies. Using the coverage States Census Bureau and can be obtained down to the analysis as a guide, you can focus reconnaissance for potential census block, the most granular level of census data. Another water supply sources on locations that will best address the potential source is 911 address points, which may be obtain- identified gaps. Once you have identified potential new water able from local dispatch centers that use computer-assisted sources and confirmed they are suitable and accessible, con- dispatch (CAD) systems. duct a “what-if” analysis using GIS tools to further refine the Once all the necessary data are obtained or collected, you selection process, giving funding priority to developing the must import them into a GIS-compatible format for the geo- most promising water sources. spatial analysis. Specific details of this procedure will vary, In some cases, areas of poor water source network coverage and departments may need to seek assistance from a partner may result from a simple lack of developable water sources. organization with GIS capabilities. In these situations, an engineered solution—such as a large- Coverage analysis/identify gaps. Once you have volume storage cistern—may be beyond the local jurisdiction’s 2 gathered all necessary geospatial data and put them ability to fund. In this case, the department should consider in a common format, you can conduct a geospatial analysis alternative mitigation strategies, such as focused public educa- of the current water supply network using any GIS software tion campaigns for the area of concern. package with a network analysis capability. You can use GIS Mitigation implementation. Once the department has to model the water source network according to actual travel 4decided on a course of action together with any part- distance and estimated travel time along the road network.5,6 ner organizations, it must begin implementing the planned The more detailed road network data are, the more realistic improvements. Desired improvements to water supply sources, the analysis results will be. The result will be mathematically such as dry hydrant and drafting basin installations, will generated polygons that provide a visual representation of require engineering design work. You will need to secure water source network coverage (see Case Study below). Us- funding and obtain agreements with land owners to ensure ing this graphical depiction, the department will readily iden- water source access. The department should also develop a

www.FireEngineeringUniversity.com rural water supply ● long-term maintenance plan for any improvements to ensure Liberty (1,805 residents) as well as several small unincorporated that the new water sources remain viable. communities. Like much of western Ohio, several state and federal highways serve the area, complemented by a relatively CASE STUDY: WEST LIBERTY FIRE DEPARTMENT dense network of county and township roads, most of which The West Liberty Fire Department (WLFD) is a volunteer are paved, although many are narrow. organization that provides fire protection to a largely rural, The department provides primarily traditional fire protec- 123-square-mile area in west central Ohio (Figure 2). The tion (structural and natural cover fires) and has some limited department has 20 firefighters, three engines (Type 1), three capability to respond to rescue and hazardous materials brush engines (two Type 6, one Type 4, also used as a tender), incidents. The department’s sister organization, the Maco- one truck/rescue unit, one Type 3 water tender, and one com- chee Joint Ambulance District, provides emergency medical mand vehicle. All resources are housed in a single station in response to the same coverage area. Politically, the department the village of West Liberty. is a part of the West Liberty village government, protecting the The coverage area is primarily flat-to-rolling agricultural village proper and providing fire protection on a contractual land with some wooded, hilly terrain in the eastern part. Over- basis to all or parts of the six surrounding rural townships all, the WLFD protects a population of 7,898 (2010 census) located in Logan and Champaign counties. and has 3,112 911 dispatch address points. Because of limited funding and staff resources, the depart- The department’s jurisdiction includes the village of West ment has not been able to aggressively address the develop- Figure 5. Values-At-Risk Factors

Comparison of percentage distribution of three values-at-risk factors (population, housing units, and 911 address points) by modeled travel distance (in road miles, left) and travel time (in minutes, right) from developed water sources, showing the close relationship between all three and demonstrating that population may serve as a reliable surrogate for all three factors during subsequent “what-if” model runs.

Figure 6. Effect of Proposed Improvements

“What-if” analysis results in terms of population coverage improvements. Blue = existing coverage, red = coverage with three proposed water sources added. Population is displayed in terms of cumulative percentage by road miles and travel minutes from a developed water source. The hypothetical water supply network achieves 95% population coverage 33% faster than the existing network, in both time and distance. Further quantifying the analysis results, simple linear curves fitted to the data have significant- ly steeper slopes in the hypothetical network: 8.01% steeper for distance and 10.97% steeper for travel time.

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ment of an effective rural water supply network. Presently, the source. department relies on the municipal hydrant system within the To better quantify the existing water supply network in re- village of West Liberty and two improved drafting sites (dry gard to its benefit to the community, the distribution of three hydrants placed in permanent ponds) as the only developed values-at-risk factors relative to developed water sources were fire protection water resources. calculated by distance and travel time (Figure 5). Because Assessment. A geospatial analysis of the department’s exist- these three factors were found to have distributions in close ing developed water resources was conducted to determine agreement, population alone was used as the only value-at- where weak coverage areas existed and to begin mitigating risk factor for the subsequent “what-if” phase of the assess- the identified gaps.T he coverage analysis was conducted in ment, serving as a surrogate for all three factors. terms of road miles (one way) and travel time (minutes to A “what-if” analysis was conducted for the study area to respond one way). determine the potential impact of developing water sources To maintain consistency with ISO rating procedures, tanker in the identified areas of weak coverage.T hree potential sites travel speeds were capped at 35 miles per hour (mph) regard- were identified using a combination of hydrographic data less of the rated speed limit of a given roadway segment. and aerial photography for purposes of the study (these sites Overall, modeled speeds were uniformly handicapped by 10 would require ground verification of their suitability before percent to simulate the effect of grades, turns, intersections, initiating development). and other impediments to travel. Individual road segments The results of the model run were dramatic. With the addi- could have been further encumbered with specific speed tion of just three new sites, almost the entire geographic extent reductions to account for terrain had road grades in the area of the coverage area fell within four road miles or eight travel been more severe. However, this was not deemed necessary to minutes of a developed water source (Figures 3, 4). These achieve a realistic model output. model results were further quantified with regard to popula- For purposes of this initial assessment, it was assumed that all tion (Figure 6). The additional sites resulted in 95 percent of the developed water sources were of equal quality for fire protection study area’s population being within four miles of a developed purposes. The department’s two existing dry hydrants and the water source whereas with the current water supply network, village’s pressurized hydrants were considered equally effective 95 percent of the study area is within six miles of a water fire protection resources, regardless of their actual characteristics. source. Likewise, 95 percent of the population is within eight This is obviously a major assumption, since water sources can travel minutes of a developed water source under the proposed vary dramatically in their ability to provide effective supply for network, compared to 12 minutes under the current network. fire suppression. (1)7 However, subsequent iterations of the as- This represents a predicted 33-percent reduction in travel dis- sessment can readily accommodate these variations in quality. tance and time required to cover the same population. Although the results depict only the actual WLFD coverage ••• area, the analysis also included all developed water sources The rural water supply assessment methodology described and roads within a five-mile buffer area around the depart- here is meant to complement, not replace, existing fire pro- ment’s jurisdictional boundary. We did this to ensure that the tection rating systems (e.g., ISO or state systems). Properly analysis did not overlook any potentially viable water source implemented and interpreted, an assessment such as this would or travel route, regardless of whether or not it was actually be a useful addition to a fire department’s planning toolbox and within the coverage area proper. could provide a compelling argument for supporting a grant or We used population data from the 2010 United States levy to fund developing additional rural water supplies. Census to characterize the impact of potential water supply The case study above demonstrated how a 123-square-mile network improvements to values-at-risk in the department’s fire district could achieve marked improvements in water sup- jurisdiction. Distance (road miles) and travel time (minutes) ply coverage with just three new developed water sources. For polygons generated using GIS software were overlaid on example, installing three dry hydrants in streams or existing census block-level data for population and housing units. This ponds would cost less than $10,000 in many cases, a very allowed census blocks to be assigned to time and distance modest investment for what will likely provide a big improve- polygons using a process derived from the one the United ment in firefighter and public safety. States Environmental Protection Agency Computer-Aided GIS is a powerful tool for assessing an existing rural water Management of Emergency Operations suite software package supply network’s effectiveness and developing strategies to uses to model populations impacted by hazardous material mitigate coverage weaknesses. Although some rural fire lead- plumes.8 ers may initially feel that GIS tools are beyond their reach, this Results. The resulting analytical graphics provide an im- is not necessarily the case. Many potential partner organiza- mediate visual assessment of the water supply situation. Both tions have in-house GIS capabilities, and many two- and four- the distance (Figure 3) and time (Figure 4) analyses display the year colleges have GIS programs and could be persuaded to same general patterns. The eastern and southwestern portions perform an assessment as a student project. For those depart- of the department’s coverage area have the weakest water ments that want to develop their own GIS capabilities, low- supply networks (shown by areas in yellow, orange, and red). cost options are available to obtain software through certain These areas are estimated to be more than four road miles or software providers’ home-use license programs or through seven travel minutes (one way) from a developed water supply TechSoup.org, a nonprofit specializing in providing informa-

8 October 2009 www.FireEngineeringUniversity.com rural water supply ● tion technology assistance to other nonprofit organizations, 6. Price, Mike. (2007). “Priming the Pump: Preparing Data for Concentration Modeling with ArcGIS Network Analyst 9.2.” ArcUser. Jul-Sep 2007. Web such as fire department member associations that can become link: www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0807/files/socd.pdf. 501(c)3 organizations. ● 7. Hickey, Harry E. (2008). “Water Supply Systems and Evaluation Methods, Volume I: Water Supply System Concepts.” United States Fire Administra- Author’s note: Thanks to John Yablonski of Digital Data Tech- tion. Web link: www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/Water_Sup- ply_Systems_Volume_I.pdf. nologies, Inc. (DDTI) for his assistance in obtaining much of the data used in the case study. DDTI provides data collection, GIS, 8. Arizona Emergency Response Commission. (2009). CAMEO Compan- and CAD support services to dispatch centers for both counties in ion. Published September 2009. Web link: www.epa.gov/emergencies/ docs/cameo/CAMEO_Companion_Sept_2009.pdf. the case study area.

● JEREMY A. KELLER is the community risk reduction Endnotes officer for the Macochee Joint Ambulance District in West 1. Colletti, Dominic. (2012). The Rural Firefighting Handbook (second ed.). Liberty, Ohio, and a state geospatial information systems Lyon’s Publishing. Royersford, Pennsylvania. specialist for the United States Department of Agriculture 2. United States Fire Administration. (2003). “Safe Operation of Fire Tank- Natural Resources Conservation Service. Involved in rural ers.” USFA Publication FA-248. Web link: www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/ pdf/publications/fa-248.pdf. fire and emergency medical service planning since 1999, he served as a wildland-urban interface fire specialist for 3. Bachman, Eric G. (2011). “How to Ensure Your Water Supply.” (Volunteers Corner). Fire Engineering, 164 (12). December 2011, 10-17. Web link: www. the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and as a fire fireengineering.com//articles/print/volume-164/issue-12/departments/ prevention officer for the United States Forest Service, volunteers-corner/how-to-ensure-your-water-supply.html. among other wildland fire positions. He has a bachelor’s 4. Bachman, Eric G. (2005). “Water Supply Preincident Intelligence.” Fire degree in fire administration from Western Oregon Uni- Engineering 158(10). October 2005, 95-106. Web link: www.fireengineering. com/articles/print/volume-158/issue-10/features/water-supply-preincident- versity, has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in natural intelligence.html. resources management from Ohio State University, is a 5. Price, Mike. (2006). “Got It Covered: Modeling Standard of Cover with certified forester, and is a retired naval intelligence officer ArcGIS Network Analyst 9.2.” ArcUser. Oct-Dec 2006. Web link: www.esri. with more than 23 years of active and reserve service. com/news/arcuser/1006/files/covered.pdf.

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COURSE EXAMINATION

1) Access to dependable water supplies are critical to achieve: 7) The narrower the geographic spacing of rural water supply networks, the longer it will take, on average, to get water to where it a. Continuous source of water is needed. b. Needed fire flows (NFF) c. Redundant water supply system a. True d. None of the above b. False

2) Rural fire departments often have limited access to pressurized 8) ______is the extinguishing agent for almost all fire suppres- municipal hydrant systems and must rely on static water supply sion strategies, and in some rural areas, can be hard to come by. systems. a. Halon a. True b. Water b. False c. Foam d. None of the above 3) Relying on off-site, distantly located water supplies create an operational ______to the rural environment. 9) ______apparatus are the backbone of successful rural water supply operations. a. Deficiencies b. Efficiencies a. Aerial c. Challenges b. Engine d. Opportunities c. Tanker d. Quint 4) ______and ______are operations are basic items in the operational toolbox of rural firefighters. 10) Rural fire department personnel must be able to draft from available water sources, set up drop tanks, and understand their a. Hydrants and ladders role in a ______operation. b. Tankers and Hydrants c. tankers and Incident Command Systems a. Offensive d. Drafting and Water Shuttle b. Water Shuttle c. Defensive d. Hydrant 5) In the Second Edition of The Rural Firefighting Handbook by Dominic Collette, which of the following is NOT one of the “Big Five?”: 11) Water supply in a rural setting is an inherently ______op- eration. a. Time b. Hardware a. Simple c. Weather b. Hard d. People c. Complex d. Automatic 6) In the Second Edition of The Rural Firefighting Handbook by Dominic Collette, which of the following is NOT one of the “Big 12) Which of the following is a public GIS data source? Five?”: a. National Hydrographic Dataset a. Agents b. Stream gauges b. Procedures c. national Agricultural Imagery Program c. Time d. All of the above d. Distance

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13) The local fire department can leverage well-designed rural water 17) During the mitigation planning phase, once a fire department supply networks to achieve better fire protection ratings from has identified areas of coverage weakness, the department can the Insurance Services Office or similar state ratings agencies. begin to develop a mitigation strategy to address deficiencies. a. True a. True b. False b. False

14) Establishing adequate water supply for rural fire incidents 18) Areas of poor water source network coverage may result from a begins with intensive ______long before operations com- simple lack of ______water sources. mence. a. Available a. Preplanning b. Developable b. Inspections c. Redundant c. Experience d. None of the above d. Training 19) Beyond simply providing a map of water sources, you can use 15) In defining the current situation in the Assessment Model, a ______technology to produce a model of your fire depart- fire department should identify all existing developed water ment’s water source network. resources, and using GIS, maps or aerial photos, obtain an a. Smartphone accurate ______for each water source. b. Navigation a. Location c. GIS b. Back-up d. None of the above c. flow rate d. None of the above 20) You should assess and improve a rural water supply network with the full participation of relevant partner organizations. 16) Once you have gathered all necessary data and put them in a a. True common format, you can conduct a ______analysis of the current water supply network. b. False a. Data b. Location c. Geospatial d. Water

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Daytime Telephone Number with Area Code Course Evaluation Fax Number with Area Code Please evaluate this course by responding to the following statements, using a scale of Excellent = 5 to Poor = 1.

E-mail Address 1. To what extent were the course objectives accomplished overall? 5 4 3 2 1

traditional compleTION INFORMATION: 2. Please rate your personal mastery of the course objectives. 5 4 3 2 1 Mail or fax completed answer sheet to 3. How would you rate the objectives and educational methods? 5 4 3 2 1 Fire Engineering University, Attn: Carroll Hull, 1421 S. Sheridan Road, Tulsa OK 74112 4. How do you rate the author’s grasp of the topic? 5 4 3 2 1 Fax: (918) 831-9804 PAYMENT & CREDIT INFORMATION 5. Please rate the instructor’s effectiveness. 5 4 3 2 1 Examination Fee: $25.00 Credit Hours: 4 6. Was the overall administration of the course effective? 5 4 3 2 1 Should you have additional questions, please contact Pete 7. Do you feel that the references were adequate? Yes No Prochilo (973) 251-5053 (Mon-Fri 9:00 am-5:00 pm EST). ❑ I have enclosed a check or money order. 8. Would you participate in a similar program on a different topic? Yes No ❑ I am using a credit card. 9. If any of the continuing education questions were unclear or ambiguous, please list them. My Credit Card information is provided below. ______ ❑ American Express ❑ Visa ❑ MC ❑ Discover 10. Was there any subject matter you found confusing? Please describe. Please provide the following (please print clearly): ______Exact Name on Credit Card 11. What additional continuing education topics would you like to see? Credit Card # Expiration Date ______Signature PLEASE PHOTOCOPY ANSWER SHEET FOR ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS.

AUTHOR DISCLAIMER INSTRUCTIONS COURSE CREDITS/COST The author(s) of this course has/have no commercial ties with the sponsors or the providers of the unrestricted educational All questions should have only one answer. Grading of this examination is done manually. Participants will receive All participants scoring at least 70% on the examination will receive a verification form verifying 4 CE credits. grant for this course. confirmation of passing by receipt of a verification form. Participants are urged to contact their state or local authority for continuing education requirements. SPONSOR/PROVIDER EDUCATIONAL DISCLAIMER RECORD KEEPING No manufacturer or third party has had any input into the development of course content. All content has been derived The opinions of efficacy or perceived value of any products or companies mentioned in this course and expressed PennWell maintains records of your successful completion of any exam. Please go to www.FireEngineeringUniversity.com to from references listed, and or the opinions of the instructors. Please direct all questions pertaining to PennWell or the herein are those of the author(s) of the course and do not necessarily reflect those of PennWell. see your continuing education credits report. administration of this course to Pete Prochilo, [email protected]. Completing a single continuing education course does not provide enough information to give the participant the COURSE EVALUATION and PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK feeling that s/he is an expert in the field related to the course topic. It is a combination of many educational courses and © 2009 by Fire Engineering University, a division of PennWell. We encourage participant feedback pertaining to all courses. Please be sure to complete the survey included with the course. clinical experience that allows the participant to develop skills and expertise. Please e-mail all questions to: Pete Prochilo, [email protected]. www.FireEngineeringUniversity.com