Seacoast Fog

Sparks

On a blustery winter day in 1976, while walking the Humarock island road, I glanced to my right and saw an orange flame lick a home window. I ran to a bordering house and asked the resident to call the fire department. I told her I would check to see if anyone was inside the burning house.

White smoke poured from the window as I pounded on the door and yelled: "Anyone in there? Anyone in there? Anyone in here?" I tried to shoulder through the locked door without success.

A few minutes later, a fireman driving a faded red fire truck arrived on the scene. He wore a black fireman's helmet, long rubber coat with several horizontal phosphorescent green bands, and over-sized black boots. He yelled: "Gimme a hand here. I'm all alone."

I told him that I thought the house was vacant. The fireman pointed toward the back of his fire truck. He tapped on the cylindrical hose reel and said: "Take the end of this hose and head toward that hydrant." I ran as fast as I could through the sand while the heavy rubber hose uncoiled behind me. The fireman followed with a foot-long hydrant wrench. He removed a hydrant cap, threaded the brass hose fitting onto the hydrant and attached the wrench to the hydrant top. I asked if he wanted help turning the wrench and he said: " No way, if that loose hose starts blowing water it could snap around and take your legs off."

The fireman waddled back to the truck and attached a heavy brass nozzle to the other end of the hose. He grabbed the nozzle and dragged it to a point twenty feet from the house and said: "Hold this until mutual aid gets here.They're twenty minutes away." I nodded affirmatively and he added: " This sucker blows a ton of water every second so stand sideways like this; grab the nozzle with both hands and brace yourself for a huge blast after I uncork the hydrant."

While I practiced my firefighting posture, flames crept into several adjacent windows. A stiff ocean breeze swirled through the shattered glass, driving the fire into the other side of the house. The fireman waved as he turned the hydrant wrench and the nozzle emitted a sound like a rhinoceros clearing his throat. The serpentine fire hose convulsed while I held it with both hands. The onrushing water created an intensifying rumble that turned into a violent whoosh when the water reached the nozzle. The force of the pressurized water nearly knocked me to the ground. After I steadied my footing,I aimed the water jet at the flaming windows.

As pressurized water hammered the house, steam and sparks spilled out. The fireman smashed the front door with a fire axe and a few minutes later he ran outside and yelled: "All clear, no people, no pets. It's electrical, coming out of the wall. You all set? Keep doing what you're doing. I'll run a second hose."

The heavy hose forced me to crouch, but I focused the water at the flaming windows for fifteen minutes. The white steam turned black as four shiny firetrucks and twenty fireman descended on the site. A burly, mustachioed fireman grabbed my hose and nozzle and he patted me on my back. Within ten minutes the fire was out. The house sustained extensive damage but no one got hurt. My firefighting adventure resulted in two blistered hands and plenty of respect for fireman.

With all the bells and whistles associated with contemporary firefighting, water dousing remains a primary firefighting tool. When I now pass by a fire scene and watch nimble firemen connect hoses and nozzles, I understand how hard they work.

Firefighters depend on high-pressure water hoses and high tech nozzles. Fire hose comes in many sizes. Large fire hose carries more water at lower pressures, small fire hose carries less water and requires higher pressures. Attack fire hoses are used to confront a fire and they are sized in 1 3/4" or 2 1/4" diameter. Supply fire hoses convey water from a source like a hydrant or pond to an attack hose and they come in 3", 4" 5" or 6" diameter. Supply hoses used for pond suction are reinforced so they don't collapse during pumping.

Fire hose is typically cut in 50' or 100' lengths. Modern fire hoses are Kevlar reinforced, lightweight, and capable of laying flat on a hose reel. Heavy brass connection fittings are securely bonded to each end. One hose end contains a female threaded connection fitting and the other end a male threaded connection fittings. Firetrucks carry union fittings that permit direct connection of male to male or female to female fittings.

Fire nozzle design has evolved from simple brass constructions to advanced models that compensate for water pressure variations. Today's nozzles require two-handed operation. A pistol grip on the bottom helps guide the water flow and a lever on the top regulates the water volume. They are built with high strength, lightweight alloys because fireman spend hours holding the nozzles and a catastrophic failure with high pressure water could be fatal to anyone nearby.

I told Ted O'Donnell, a ten year veteran of the Boston Fire Department, about my firefighting experience and he said: "Don't try that in Boston. Between the insurance issues and the union you can't touch anything relating to a fire." I asked him about current fire hose technology and he said:" The hoses are now lighter and tougher. A bulldozer can run over some of these hoses and they won't fail." I described the cold-to-the-touch heavy brass nozzle I held as I sprayed the burning house and he replied: " Those are long gone. We now use these lightweight nozzle that atomize the water and this creates a more efficient water stream. I had a dozen more questions to ask but he yelled "gotta go" as a piercing assembly alarm sounded in the the firehouse background and firetruck engines started.