April 25, 2011

A Little Break in the Dry Weather

Volunteer firefighters practice pumping water from a stream.
This morning the rain gauge showed 0.6 inches (with a film of ice on top), so I am deliriously happy rather jolly pretty pleased with that, even though it means we have had only about an inch of moisture in two months.

The only good side to the dry weather is that the leadership at the volunteer fire department has suddenly focused on recruiting and training, with weekly meetings for the latter.

This picture was taken April 14th, showing the first outing of the "new" engine, a 1974 Boardman "bumper pumper"—in other words, the pump is on the extended front bumper rather than behind the cab.

It was donated by Larger Volunteer Department Up the Road, which had had it on reserve status. It drives fine (only 8,000 miles on the engine) and the pump works, but we are finding a lot of leaks in the water system due to old age, which are slowly being chased down.

Since there is only one water hydrant in about 100 square miles here, being able to fill its 750-gallon tank from other water sources is essential.

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