Controlled Burn / Water Shuttle on Shamper's Bluff

On Sunday, October 17th, 2010. The Long Reach Fire Department hosted a "water shuttle" event for local area fire departments. This training exercise had firefighters from Peninsula, Hampton, Kennebecasis Valley, Nauwigewauk and Simonds Fire Departments each bring a tanker to provide water to control a planned burn of an old farmhouse on Shamper's Bluff. The primary building being burned was a two story farmhouse, there were also two outbuildings that were burned at the same event. The event started at approximately 6:30 AM.

Arriving water tankers dumped their water into two "porta-tanks" at the fire scene. These are foldable tanks that are carried on each of our large fire trucks, which allow for temporary storage of water at a fire scene. After dumping their water, trucks drove to Kingston Creek to refill using two large portable pumps that were set up there.

The shuttle was maintained for approximately two hours, bringing a total of 38 000 gal of water to the fire scene in 30 truckloads. At the peak of the fire, approximately 500 gallons per minute were being discharged in order to keep the flames in check. This exercise provided training of how to effectively fight a large fire in an area unprotected by fire hydrants.