Extended fire season RTV1100 vs Ranger 6X6

It's been one of the hottest springs in memory and as a firefighter Ive been busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest.

For the ranch I've put together a quick response rig to snuff out any lightning strikes before they get too big.

I'm using a 6.5 hp forestry pump to fill the tote and then use it hooked to the output on the tote to charge the pump. It gives me 30 minutes of very forceful water.

Here we're using our pond to fill, we also have a 4000 gallon rainwater collection tank and our well. Lately we've needed to fill at the pond and fill the rainwater tank for use in the gardens.

I use a ranger 6X6 for wildland fires at work and I'll post a few pictures of that in a few days on this thread.

What I've noticed comparing the two:

1, The Ranger, vs the RTV1100, is like diving a 20 year old Hyundai compared to a new Mercedes G-Wagon
2, The Ranger 6x6 is smoother over rough topography
3, Rangers 50 onboard gallons vs the RTV's 400 towed gallons is not even close to equality when it comes to putting the wet stuff on the red stuff.
4, Rangers open cab required me to wear sealed goggles 100% of the time when the RTV's positive pressure cab gives me a much needed rehab station.
5, The Ranger, doesn't have much of a "range" compared to the 1100 gas vs diesel.
6, Empty, the speed of both units are about equal, filled the ranger is faster, but again it's not pulling 3000#.

I was a member of the Hawley Volunteer Fire Dept here in Texas for nearly ten years, until I decided I needed to let the younger people do it. I got overheated just driving one of our converted military brush trucks. It was nice to be able to put 2500 gallons of wet stuff on the red stuff without slowing down.
Bryce

I know what you mean Shinnery, My wife just had to quit because of a back injury sustained on the job. She just had surgery last week and is very tender.
It's a young man's game, but some of us older dudes have to stay to show them how to stay alive.

Not one of our 5 rangers but kitted out the same.

Admirable.
I was going to comment on how lucky you were to have this strapping helper to drag the pump down to the pond...
I'm putting together a minimal set, 55 gallon freebie so far . Terrain around here is steep forest mostly so heavy trailers are a pain but the koob by itself with a smallish payload of wet stuff can go almost anywhere (and get back out ).

Just finished another fire call, lucky this time, cigarette butt thrown from a window but we were able to snuff it out with less than an acre burnt. Didn't even need to unload the Ranger. People!

poke said:

Admirable.
I was going to comment on how lucky you were to have this strapping helper to drag the pump down to the pond...

Click to expand...

Wish she could carry stuff, she's still in a lot of pain.

poke said:

I'm putting together a minimal set, 55 gallon freebie so far . Terrain around here is steep forest mostly so heavy trailers are a pain but the koob by itself with a smallish payload of wet stuff can go almost anywhere (and get back out ).

Click to expand...

Just a gallon in the right spot at the right time! Hit hard and fast then open a beer!

We had two of these M559 "GOER TANKERS" converted to brush fire fighters, they had a stainless 2500 gallon fuel tank (for filling trucks, tanks, etc.) that made a fine water tank. put a Briggs and Stratton powered pump in the back end where the fuel filter normally was. Had a platform on the front for two water sprayers and usually someone on top with a red line (1")nozzle. You could get rid of a lot of brush fire with one tank of water. Also pretty good on a house fire with a couple of 1 1/2" lines. I just found a you tube video of a military one playing around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyqMMOdXUOY

Bryce

Very cool! I'll take 10! Mpg might suffer

Sweet setup!!!

A couple questions.
"1, The Ranger, vs the RTV1100, is like diving a 20 year old Hyundai compared to a new Mercedes G-Wagon"
Which is the Hyundai? The Ranger or the RTV?

It's hard to tell how much head you have between the pond and the tote but can that pump pull as well as it pushes water? Wondering if you switched the long and short hoses, can you leave the pump in the trailer or RTV bed and put the long hose to the pond so you don't need to carry the pump down there. It would have to pull water instead of push.

bczoom said:

Sweet setup!!!

A couple questions.
"1, The Ranger, vs the RTV1100, is like diving a 20 year old Hyundai compared to a new Mercedes G-Wagon"
Which is the Hyundai? The Ranger or the RTV?

It's hard to tell how much head you have between the pond and the tote but can that pump pull as well as it pushes water? Wondering if you switched the long and short hoses, can you leave the pump in the trailer or RTV bed and put the long hose to the pond so you don't need to carry the pump down there. It would have to pull water instead of push.

Click to expand...

Good questions Bc,
1 RTV being the Benz. For sure!

2, pumps require a hard suction line to prevent the line from colapsing in on itself and such line is about $4.00 a foot. So the short line is the expensive one and the long, 50' soft line is what delivers the water to the target. I'm considering installing a pipe line to the deepest past of the pond, with a good filter and trenching it to the driveway side of the fence, creating a "dry hydrant". That way I can leave every thing attached, hook up to the end of the pipe, prime the pump and start filling, just need 60 feet of 2" pipe, an elbow, cap and fittings.

After filling the tote, about 10 minutes, I place the pump in the trailer and use quick connects to attach the hard intake to the output on the bottom of the tote. Now with the advantage of gravity feeding the wet stuff I don't have to prime the pump, just start and spray. I can disconnect the RTV by the fire and the trailer is self supporting and I can continue to fight while the RTV collects the second trailer/pump and fills. When I'm empty I just switch the trailer for the full one and the RTV returns to refill the empty.
10 minutes plus travell, about 10 more and about a 30 minute water supply on site means I can fight with a supply that will last me days.
In worst case scenerio it should only take 30 minutes till back up arrives.

cpsseals,

Having some experience years ago pumping water out of a river to water plants at a garden center, I would recommend this:

I would set up the pickup hose with filter so it would float in the center of the pond with the opening a couple of inches below the surface. It will prevent any floating trash and any junk on the bottom from getting into the intake. It also makes it easier to service the pickup line.

I agree Tribute, We use a float pickup for the fire trucks and they work great, but I'm looking for a permanent install and it has to be below the ice level in winter so I need the pickup to be at least 2 feet below the lowest surface level. Was thinking of something like this highly accurate, blue printed and detailed drawing

My friends pond has one of those pick-up pipes so the local fire department can draw water from his pond if/as needed. I think it's about 6" in diameter.

His pipes intake is "near" the surface level but I'm thinking it's down about 1'. He then has a cage device mounted on it to keep any fish or surface debris from being sucked in. On the bank of the pond and capped is where the fire department connects.

As I recall, he has a diver go in once every 5 years or so to check things out. I believe it's just an inspection to make sure none of the PVC pipe cracked or something.

I'm not quite on-topic here, but this might provide some ideas to someone who wants to build a similar firefighting or watering trailer.

I started with the little Harbor Freight 40x48" $150 trailer. (This one is a 1980's used one that cost $30). Same dimensions as an IBC tote. The trailer is only 125 lbs plus another 125 lbs for the tote.

I strengthened the tongue and installed a 2" hitch, and later found used 12" tires/rims for better flotation over rough, disced ground. Surprisingly with the abuse of pulling 2500 lbs on a trailer rated 900 lbs, nothing has broken, not even the original weather-checked 8" tires that were on it for the first two years.

Inside the tank is a $22 HF bilge pump, suspended so it will slide over to the low side and get the last water on a side slope. Special adaptation for watering - That's a lawn sprinkler vacuum breaker at the top so my watering wand will fill with air when I turn off the pump instead of siphoning while I drive to the next tree.

Output when watering (negative net lift) is 15 gpm. It fills the basin at a new tree in less than a minute.

You would need an additional pressure pump outside the tank to drive a pressure nozzle. I have played around with this HF pump. This works fine but its reviews say reliability isn't good enough for firefighting.

In the thread where I originally posted this photo there's another photo that better shows the output arrangement.

For fire response and general watering - assuming at the home property, not highway towing - I would use better quality pumps than I did here but I think the trailer and tank make a good low cost solution.