LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Fire Trucks: Water
built 633 days ago
The Fire Department ... responds to fire and accidents on the water. The fire boat usually works on its own, without any help, reason why it has to be equipped not only for fires but also for any kind of rescue operations. The basic equipment of a fire boat are water cannons which are being supplied by very powerful pumps. In addition a fire boat often has a foam tank on board as well as material for oil spills, fire fighting and rescue equipment. Depending on the type and the size of the boat, it even has a ladder on board. Besides the "normal" hulls, there are also catamarans or even hydrofoils used as fire boats.
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Rescue Boat 20: The boat, used by the Punxsutawney Fire Dept Water Rescue Team, is housed at Central. This team is comprised of SCUBA divers, boat crew and ground support personnel. The boat responds to all Water Rescue Calls. The Water Resuce Team gets about 2 or 3 calls per year, and trains often in the lakes surrounding Punxsutawney.
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When fires erupted, Knight was at the scene, his cameras clicking away as he photographed hotspots, smoke and the position of fire trucks. He snapped photos of a major chemical leak, using aerial shots, to help demonstrate the extent of the damage to a nearby water supply. And in 1995 -- when a mail bomb exploded in an office building -- he went to the North Raleigh workplace to document the wreckage.
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The pumper fire truck is the one that is used most often in the event of a fire. It is the one ... used during Fire Prevention Week at most schools. The pumper truck is called to an accident scene because the gasoline in the car's tank may leak and catch on fire. A pump on the truck can increase the pressure of the water in the hose so the water will reach farther. A pumper truck can pump 1,250 gallons of water every minute! The truck itself is 30 feet long.
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Ctesibius of Alexandria is credited with inventing the first fire pump around the second century B.C. The fire pump was reinvented in Europe during the 1500s, reportedly used in Augsburg in 1518 and Nuremberg in 1657. A book of 1655 inventions mentions a steam engine (called fire engine) pump used to "raise a column of water 40 feet [12 m]", but there was no mention of whether it was portable.
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