A 10,000 gallon water tank is being placed in the ground at the Topley Volunteer Fire Department so firefighters can more easily, quickly and efficiently refill firetrucks and tenders when responding to a fire.
“You have to remember that we’re in a rural area and there are no fire hydrants,” Topley assistant fire chief Glenn Kelly said of the need to refill the 1,000 gallon tanks in the department’s two fire trucks or the 2,500 gallon tank in its tender vehicle.
“So this is really appreciated and is great for the community, a great addition to the community.”
At the moment, the department fills its vehicles with a hose at the fire hall or drives them to Sunset Lake where a pump is used.
The problem with Sunset Lake is that the road to the lake is not plowed in the winter, doing away with that option for a part of the year.
“With this large tank we can now, for example, fill each of our trucks five times,” said Kelly of the 10,000 gallon capacity of the new tank.
“At the last fire, late last November, we put 16,000 gallons on that fire,” he added as an example of the volume of water that can be needed.
In firefighting language, the tank is called a “dry hydrant” in that it has a non-pressurized pipe system so that the speed and volume in which water can be taken depends upon the pumping apparatus of the vehicle.
The 10,000 gallon tank is constructed of carbon fibre and is buried below the frost line to prevent freezing during the winter.
And it’s one of a series being installed through the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako which supports rural fire departments in its coverage area.
“The Regional District of Bulkley Nechako installed one of these tanks at the Cluculz Lake Fire Hall when it was constructed two years ago,” explained regional district regional fire chief Jason Blackwell.
“We have put one on Laidlaw Road in rural Smithers, and are in the process of installing another at Round Lake so we will have four in total once this project is completed.”
Money for the installations comes from the provincial Northern Capital and Planning Grant received by the regional district in 2019 and 2020.
The contract for the Topley and Round Lake tanks was awarded this summer for a combined total of $315,364.
“We’ve tried to identify rural areas where there are no hydrant locations for these projects. Future installation will be dependent on funding opportunities,” Blackwell said.