On November 20th and 21st, members from Hughesville VFD joined with members of Mechanicsville, La Plata, Leonardtown, Huntingtown and Hollywood VFD to conduct training in rural water supply. The class was hosted by The Water Thieves. The 2 day course was an intense fast pace course with members drafting water from ponds and portable water tanks utilized on fire grounds. Members learned several non traditional methods to draft water. Attendees supplied high volumes of water in a short amount of time to supply a mock fire suppression effort. Attendees were able to flow over 6,000 gallons per minute for over an hour at a draft site while 6 tankers were able to shuttle water from the draft site to the mock fire ground a few miles away. At the fire ground attendees were able to keep a ladder truck flowing over 1,000 gallons per minute for over an hour using only portable water tanks and tankers shuttling water.

The training received by members will be invaluable to the Southern Maryland Region and our vast response areas.

HVFD would like to thank Mechanicsville for hosting the class and The Water Thieves for providing us with the training.