The members of the Potsdam Fire Department, along with Hannawa Falls Fire Department, braved the cold tonight and held a joint training to work on pump operations, hose advancements, pumper relay operations, drafting, and tanker shuttles.

The principle of a pumper relay is to discharge water from one pumper, through 5in hose, to the inlet of the next pumper, and so. The purpose of pumper relays is to boost inadequate water pressure over an extensive distance from source (draft site) to the incident.

This type of water operation are used for houses that sit far back off the road, if there is no safe turn around for tankers, or if the draft site is just far enough away that you can use it without using a tanker shuttle.

Tanker shuttles are used for incidents that may need a large amount of water but your water source is farther away from your incident scene. Tankers that hold a large amount of water shuttle the water to the incident and drop the water into port-a-tanks where the pumper then can pump the water out of and disperse the water to hose lines for the firefighters who are extinguishing the fire.

Each month the members of the Potsdam Fire Department hold a monthly training night. Each month the training topic is different. This year we have decided to team up with a different department that we work closely with on incidents so that departments can learn from one another and get acquainted with their members.