A fire engine is a vehicle designed primarily for firefighting operations. The terms "fire engine" and "fire truck" are often used interchangeably; however in some fire departments/fire services they refer to separate and specific types of vehicle.
A fire hose is a high-pressure hose that carries water or other fire retardant to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it attaches either to a fire engine or a fire hydrant. Indoors, it can permanently attach to a building's standpipe or plumbing system.
A flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human excreta by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location for disposal, thus maintaining a separation between humans and their excreta. Flush toilets can be designed for sitting or for squatting, in the case of squat toilets. The opposite of a flush toilet is a dry toilet, which uses no water for flushing.
A fire hydrant, also called a fireplug, fire pump, jockey pump, or simply pump, is a connection point by which firefighters can tap into a water supply. It is a component of active fire protection.
Birdsill Holly Jr. was a mechanical engineer and inventor of water hydraulics devices. He is noted for his inventions related to city water system equipment and apparatus for fire protection, like the fire hydrant.
In North America, a standpipe is a type of rigid water piping which is built into multi-story buildings in a vertical position or bridges in a horizontal position, to which fire hoses can be connected, allowing manual application of water to the fire. Within the context of a building or bridge, a standpipe serves the same purpose as a fire hydrant.
Storz is a type of hose coupling invented by Carl August Guido Storz in 1882 and patented in Switzerland in 1890, and patented in the U.S. in 1893 that connects using interlocking hooks and flanges. It was first specified in standard FEN 301-316, and has been used by German fire brigades since 1933. Amongst other uses, it has been widely employed on fire hoses in firefighting applications. It is the standard coupling on fire hoses in Portugal, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Israel, and Greece. It is also widely used in Australia and the United States.
A water tender, also known as a tanker in some regions, is a specialized firefighting apparatus designed for transporting water from a water source to a fire scene. Water tenders are capable of drafting water from a stream, lake or hydrant.
Firefighting jargon includes a diverse lexicon of both common and idiosyncratic terms. One problem that exists in trying to create a list such as this is that much of the terminology used by a particular department is specifically defined in their particular standing operating procedures, such that two departments may have completely different terms for the same thing. For example, depending on whom one asks, a safety team may be referred to as a standby, a RIT or RIG or RIC, or a FAST. Furthermore, a department may change a definition within its SOP, such that one year it may be RIT, and the next RIG or RIC.
A hydrant is an outlet from a fluid main often consisting of an upright pipe with a valve attached from which fluid can be stolen.
This is a glossary of firefighting equipment.
In typesetting and page layout, alignment or range is the setting of text flow or image placement relative to a page, column (measure), table cell, or tab. The type alignment setting is sometimes referred to as text alignment, text justification, or type justification. The edge of a page or column is known as a margin, and a gap between columns is known as a gutter.
Firematicracing is a proprietary name for a type of recreational competition among the firefighter teams involving timed completion of tasks related to or simulating common firefighting activities. The sport under its present name is most popular in New York state, although similar types of competition, known under different names, exist in other parts of the world.
Hondo Dog Park is a city park in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Opened in 2007, it is the first dog park in that city. Located on nearly four acres, the park is in the northeast section of Hillsboro adjacent to Hillsboro Stadium. Hondo Dog Park is named after a Hillsboro Police Department K-9 unit dog that was shot and killed in the line of duty. The park includes a fire hydrant painted like an American flag as a memorial to the police dog, which received some controversy when the park opened.
An aircraft lavatory is a small room on an aircraft with a toilet and sink.
Flexible suction hose, not to be confused with hard suction hose in U.S., is a specific type of fire hose used in drafting operations, when a fire engine uses a vacuum to draw water from a portable water tank, pool, or other static water source. It is built to withstand vacuum, rather than pressure, abrasion, and heat. Conversely, hard suction is capable of withstanding up to 200 PSIG, as well as vacuum. In the United States, it is standard equipment according to the National Fire Protection Association standards for fire engines. It is used in both structural and wildland firefighting throughout the world, and is made in various diameters and connection types.
The Auxiliary Water Supply System is a high pressure water supply network built for the city of San Francisco in response to the failure of the existing emergency water system during the 1906 earthquake. It was originally proposed by San Francisco Fire Department chief engineer Dennis T. Sullivan in 1903, with construction beginning in 1909 and finishing in 1913. The system is made up of a collection of water reservoirs, pump stations, cisterns, suction connections and fireboats. While the system can use both fresh or salt water, it is preferential to not use salt water, as it commonly causes galvanic corrosion in fire equipment.
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) is a municipal authority in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is responsible for water treatment and delivery systems in the city of Pittsburgh, as well as the city's sewer system. In a 2010 report, the authority reported 80,557 drinking water service connections and 107,151 sewage connections. The authority claims to serve approximately 250,000 customers, though it does not report how this number is calculated.
The Community Fire Safety Act of 2013 is a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring that all new fire hydrants in the United States be lead-free beginning in 2014. The bill was passed by the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.
