Cinnaminson Fire Department Holds Water Training Sessions

The following was submitted by the Cinnaminson Fire Department

For the past three years, the Cinnaminson Fire Department has been training with other fire departments from throughout Burlington County on drafting exercises.

Drafting is when water is taken from a body of water, like a lake or river, when fire hydrants are not available. Fortunately for Cinnaminson Township, there are plenty of fire hydrants that provide a quick water supply for almost every piece of property in town.

However, the possibility of the water system going down, while minimal, is always there. There is also the possibility of our crews being sent to areas of the county without fire hydrants due to multi-alarm fires.

So as with everything else in the fire service, we need to be prepared. This training allowed the members of the fire department to perfect this task in a safe and timely manner. This year’s training was conducted with the Union Fire Company of Medford and the Indian Mills Fire Company of Shamong.

On Saturday June 30, the fire companies joined the Cinnaminson Fire Department in the East Riverton section of town and performed four hours of training using portable ponds in the Riverline parking lot located on Rowland Street.

Portable ponds, which set up like pools, hold up to 3,500 gallons of water each. Water was shuttled into the ponds as members took turns pulling the water from the ponds into the fire engine. Once the draft was pulled, water was fed to other fire trucks set up on location.

On Tuesday Aug. 2, a second part of the training exercise was conducted in Medford. Members practiced pulling a draft out of an actual lake instead of a staged portable pond. This proved to be more challenging as more thought and effort was put into setting the draft up. Reverting back to the original training provided, the members were able to perform this task quickly and safely.

The Cinnaminson Fire Department would like to thank the members of the Union Fire Company of Medford and the Indian Mills Fire Company of Shamong for assisting with this year’s training. We look forward to working with both companies, as well as others throughout the county, in the future.