Never-Ending Quest: Better, Lighter, Safer Attack Fire Hose

Weight and maneuverability. Friction loss and pump pressure demands. Staffing requirements. Nozzle reaction and control. Deployment and hoselay time. These are concerns about attack hose that often are raised when fire department personnel have fire attack hose manufacturer representatives at their disposal. Heavy and stiff construction makes it difficult and fatiguing to maneuver hoselines through tight spaces. Friction loss requires higher pump pressure to maintain target flows. Nozzle whip increases with increased water flow.

Of course, hose manufacturers always have been attentive to users’ needs and desires, but these companies might never have been more attuned than they have been recently. Developments in 1½-inch hose design and construction as well as hose of other sizes attest to that.

Conquering nozzle whip

Previously, many firefighters using 1½-inch attack hoses struggled with stability, particularly as low-pressure nozzles gained popularity and NFPA flow requirements changed. One change includes minimum gpm requirements for handlines in specific instances, such as 100 gpm for single-family dwellings and apartments, 150 gpm for commercial structures and 250 gpm for high-rise buildings. An addtional update prevents attack hoses from having an internal diameter greater than three-sixteenths of an inch over their nominal size.

Their reduced internal support at lower operating pressures resulted in nozzle whip and kinking.

Brandon Chapman, who is the 1½-inch hose specialist for Snap-tite Hose, tells Firehouse that outer jacket construction and liner construction of the past were the culprits.

The company’s new Supreme II double-jacketed hose has a polyester outer jacket and an onyx nitrile through-the-weave liner that allows for an inner diameter of 1.65 inches for greater flow, mitigation of nozzle whip and better functionality for the firefighter. The results of pressure tests show that the hose serves 400 psi for service, 800 psi for proof and 1,200 psi for burst.

“If you hold a true 1½-inch and the Supreme II 1½-inch, you can easily tell the difference,” he says.

In addition, Capt. Bobby Eckert, who is a member of the Camden, NJ, Fire Department, praises the Supreme II for its durability and easy packability.

“The greatest thing I love about Snap-tite’s packability is that it gets better with time,” Eckert says. “It’s like a pair of shoes that are meant to be worn; it’s meant to have water flowed through it and packed.”

Mercedes Textiles’ approach to minimize nozzle whip: Reinforce the last couple of feet of hose without producing an “odd spot.”

The company’s Low-Pressure eXpansion (LPX) Technology was conceived and developed with small-diameter hose in low-pressure applications in mind.

Hoses that incorporate the technology (the 1½-inch KrakenEXO LPX as well as the 1¾-inch ExoMetro LPX) operate at 50–75 psi and can deliver flows that range from 150–160 gpm. Mercedes Textiles’ Lydia Jackson says that this provides performance that’s comparable to some larger-diameter hoses but with greater flexibility and easier handling.

Capt. Matt Boyce of Hanover Area Volunteer Fire and Rescue (HAVFR) in Pennsylvania tells Firehouse that his department’s front-line rigs now are equipped with two Mercedes Textiles’ 1½-inch crosslays. He says crews “were amazed with the working end of the hose … and how much nicer it made the nozzle reaction and nozzle whip.”

Less heavy lifting

Mercedes Textiles’ Jackson says that the company’s engineers took to heart the fact that so many departments are challenged by low staffing. Of course, this often can result in a single firefighter on an attack hose. Further, there’s the matter of packability. She says the company’s engineering department’s “targeted innovation” ensured no sacrifice in that regard. The engineers applied a “minimal change/maximum effect-type philosophy,” she explains.
HAVFR’s Boyce calls his crews’ positive experience with LPX Technology hose “unreal.”

Despite a flow of 125 gpm, Snap-tite Hose’s Chapman says Supreme II allows a single firefighter to move and operate the hose to get to the seat of the fire faster. Nevertheless, packability was a key component of the hose’s development. “Firefighters’ safety is our No. 1 goal,” Snap-tite Director of Quality Brian Carson stresses.

In addition to providing smooth operation with low-pressure nozzles and conformance to NFPA 1960: Standard for Fire Hose Connections, Spray Nozzles, Manufacturer’s Design of Fire Department Ground Ladders, Fire Hose, and Powered Rescue Tools, the development of Key Fire Hose’s new TRU-ID double-jacketed, rubber-lined attack hose focused on reducing weight. For example, the unoccupied weight for the 1¾-inch version is 0.44 lb/ft.

“The goal was to be able to supply a hose for the fire community in high rises that they could take up that was lighter in weight and good for the gpm and still match the psi pressures in the building,” Mark Lighthill, who is the company’s government operations director, tells Firehouse.

Continuous mission

Two of the takeaways that resulted from the discussions that we had with the representatives of Key Fire Hose, Mercedes Textiles and Snap-tite Hose are that fire attack hose manufacturers’ pursuit of information from firefighters never stops and their dedication to helping to improve member safety is ongoing.

A major influence in the design process of Key Fire Hose’s TRU-ID were answers to two questions: What gpm do you want, and how do you deliver water through the nozzle?

Snap-tite Hose’s Chapman is in continual conversation with firefighters, asking repeatedly how can his company improve how they perform their job?