Drafting from the lake
A typical fire pumper carries two 10 foot sections of hard suction hose to draft from a non-pressurized water source. On older pumpers the water intakes were on the side behind the cab. Most of the newer cab forward (cab forward of the engine) pumpers have the intake on the front over an extended front bumper.
When they are operating from a hydrant a soft hose will be used and the pressurized water will enter through that intake. When they need to draft from a source such as a lake the pumper will ideally need to get no further than about 10 feet from the lake to be successful and the hard suction hoses will be used.
Some of the suction hose will be taken up by the distance to the lake and the intake end will need to be at least a foot under the surface or it will draw in air. It is best to be as close to the water source level as possible because the amount of lift for the water is a big detrimental factor to the pressure and volume that can be supplied.
I do not know what sites were available to the firefighters to get close enough to the lake to be successful.
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