Most fire truck pumpers today will pump 1,500 gallons per minute and carry an average of 750 gallons of water. So if the fire is anything significant where heavy streams are required you need a good water supply right away.
In theory, using something like a deck gun, you could dump the truck water tank in the first minute or so. You wouldn't want to send firefighters into a burning building who were counting on water for protection unless you were sure of a continuing water supply.
The small pumps on a fireboat may be good for 1500 gallons per minute. That is good enough for a boat fire, and may be all that is available for a house fire on an island. The Gilford fireboat purchased a couple of years ago has a 1,500 GPM pump.
The difference, and we don't have any on the lake. is the large diesel tugboat style fireboats that cities like Boston have. Those will pump 6,000 to 12,000 gallons per minute.
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