Hero or Zero...

It is good that people in our profession are generally liked and respected. That really helps when you are confronted with a very wet and angry homeowner.

It started out as an innocent drill for a new engineer (pump operator). Since I was working an overtime shift in a different location than normal, I was not sure where to go drill because the drill field was in use with the recruit academy. With that in mind, we chose an undeveloped subdivision with nice new streets and hydrants, and started making hydrant connections, pulling lines, and flowing water. After a bit, I set up another scenario where we used our deck gun. This is a large nozzle on top of the engine that flows about 1000 gallons per minute. Needless to say, if you are on the receiving end of that, you get wet.

All was going well as we rolled up, put the deck gun in service using tank water, and carefully kept all the water on the street. As the water ran out, the engineer connected to the hydrant for the next part of the operation. I moved the nozzle back to the sideways stow position and went to assist the engineer. So with a fresh supply of water, we were back in business and proceeded to put a hand line in service. As I walked around the other side of the engine, I noticed two things...there was a lot of water flying around, and a guy on the other side of the fence was yelling.

Turns out, he had a reason for yelling. Something about thousands of gallons of water landing on his house, his deck, his backyard, his flowers, and of course...him.

We had somehow forgot to shut that master stream down when we ran out of water, and with the fresh supply, it was putting a beautiful arched stream right into the aforementioned areas.

I did my best apologies and hoped for the best. He later showed up at the fire station to complain some more, but I hope that we have heard the last of it. His only real damage complaint was that his flowers were a bit trampled looking.