Fire crews from Blackpool and Little Fort came together to build three dry hydrants for fire mitigation use in the North Thompson working with Simpcw First Nation, the Chu Chua Fire Department and the Jim Brothers Land and Cattle Company for this critical project.
A dry fire hydrant is a non-pressurized pipe system permanently installed in a water source such as lakes, rivers, streams or ponds that permits the withdrawal of water by drafting from a fire truck to provide a reliable water source for fire suppression close to the incident.
These hydrants were built by volunteer members of the Blackpool and Little Fort fire departments as eight-inch dry hydrant lines.
“The first dry hydrant went in at Little Fort near Mount Ollie Street, followed by the second at Blackpool, at the end of Blackpool Road. A third is set to be installed 18 km south of Clearwater just off of Highway 5,” said Blackpool Fire Chief, Mike Savage. “Nine different sets of permits, with three levels of government services to reach this point. The different government agencies were great to work with and provided valuable information and advice. Now we have emergency water dry hydrants that can be used year-round, to support firefighting operations including wildfires.”
Savage explained that Simpcw IA teams and the BC Wildfire IA teams will be provided with a key for the hydrants.
The next phase will be to install the last hydrant and to have the hydrants certified by Federal Underwriters for insurance and extensive training will follow after the units are certified.
“Each fire hall will also be receiving a 30-horse-powered high-pressure pump capable of pumping water some 450 feet from the hydrant if needed. These three dry hydrants will round out our strategic water fire suppression project,” said Savage.
The strategic water fire suppression project also includes the large-capacity water storage tanks located around the Blackpool and Little Fort fire protection areas that were previously installed. The last storage tank was installed last year on the east side of the North Thompson River and the east side of the CN mainline at Little Fort. Chu Chua Fire and Simpcw provided the site and the gravel base for the 6,000-gallon water storage tank.
The dry hydrant installations are considered a working partnership within the North Thompson between Blackpool, Little Fort and Chu Chua Fire departments to protect the residents and land in the valley ahead of wildfire season said the fire chief.