Monday, September 21, 2009
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During a live fire evolution last Friday at the PA. State Fire Academy, they experienced a failure of a section 5” hose. The hose separated from the coupling. Fortunately, there was no one was injured after the failure occurred. Post incident investigation revealed no signs as to why the failure may have occurred....
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The hose was manufactured in February of 2008 by Snap-Tite and placed in service in April of 2008.
So that you can accurately create a picture in your mind, this hose was the supply hose from E-88. At the beginning of the third evolution E-88 executed a forward lay of about 300 feet. Engine 94 was assigned the task of pumping E-88’s line. The LDH had been charged for about 10 minutes when the failure occurred. There were two lines that were operating in the building and two more getting ready to go into service. At the time of failure the operator on E-88 indicated that he had an intake pressure of 100 psi. The hose failed at rear intake on E-88 as illustrated by the photos.
The there are no indicators as to what happened. There are several potential contributing factors though. First, there was a casting imperfection in the compression ring. They are not sure how much of a role this might have played in the incident. Secondly, when the hose was delivered new the witness lines were, in at least one case, off by as much as 3/16”, and most if not all witness lines were not tight against the coupling. So I guess in a way we became complacent and said that since this is new hose and the witness lines are where they are we aren’t going to pay attention to them.
There is no doubt that this hose gets used. I don’t know that I could accurately tell you the number of times that this supply line has been deployed. It may have been off the apparatus 100 plus times since it was placed in service. I believe we, at the State Fire Academy have gone to great lengths to protect resources. Our equipment might see a lot of use but never abuse. About the only time you might see hose getting dragged would be when the hydrant and hookup persons are doing there jobs otherwise it is carried. It scares me to think that it is failing because of normal use. How about the stuff that is on apparatus that is getting abused?
REMINDER-hose and the dangers are often taken for granted. It's important to remember annual hose testing is critical as is remembering that during testing-or on a run-its high pressure and can be hazardous.
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