2016 Middlesex County Full Scale Water Supply Drill – “Putting Big Water on Big Fire”

Plainsboro 4/16, NJ The Middlesex County Fire Marshalls Office in conjunction with the Board of Commissioners of Plainsboro Fire District No. 1, hosted a full scale tanker drill to learn and improve upon sustained water flow at large scale fires. According to Scott Kivet, Deputy Fire Coordinator of the Middlesex County Fire Marshal's Office, operating at several larger scale fires requiring “big water” such as the Keaseby fire, North Brunswick fire and the Hillsborough fire was the impetus for this drill where there was low water pressure and volume. In an effort to control a simulated fire of a 100’ x 250’ warehouse that was 50% involved, various fill sites were established in order to supply water at a rate of 4000 gallons per minute. A 1.1 mile long pipeline was established behind Bristol-Meyers Squibb and ended at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. There were 34 tanker, 40 engines, 2 ladders and a squirt from 6 counties to form the tanker and large diameter hose task force needed to meet the water flow demands of this exercise. The drill started at 10am concluded at 1pm with a sustained water flow rate of 3600-3800 gallons per minute and the goal of 4000 gallons per minute was achieved.
Craig Haas, Photojournalist
Josh Alex, Videographer