Overhead Fill Stations
Our pumps are stationed throughout the west in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and available nationwide.
Our high-flow tower pumps were developed exclusively by Spence Industrial to rapidly supply water to engines, tenders, and helicopters. 18 years ago, we pioneered this system and are continually improving to meet changing demands. Air and Ground Fire Operations prefer our system for moving water safely. Our high-volume pumps with fill towers protect riparian areas, fish habitat, and water quality while performing a vital emergency task.
Above: 4000-gallon tanks are filled in less than 4 minutes. Tower areas are well-marked, and our crew's safety record of zero accidents is well documented.
Our support truck arrives with a two-man crew and a full complement of hoses and supplies able to deliver water to firefighting equipment 500 feet from the water source. Our team safely sets up pump and tower within minutes and oversees the filling of tenders and engines, without requiring the drivers to get out of their vehicles. This saves valuable minutes by allowing trucks to drive through and rapidly fill. Our turbo-charged diesel pumps are environmentally friendly, quiet, and powerful.
Left: 1000 gpm Overhead Fill Station Support Trucks at the Jacko Lakes Fires in Seeley Lake, MT in 2007. We have 5 of these located around the west during fire season.
Testimonial from US Forest Service Personnel
"Our over-arching concern was to minimize impacts to the near-stream environment of Fish and Petty Creeks that harbor threatened and sensitive bull and westslope cutthroat trout, respectively. We were successful at finding several filling locations early on that addressed this concern, but...these sites became degraded and a couple were decommissioned...Bob Boyak...was successful in bringing on the Spence Industrial high-tower water filling units. These units worked extremely well at:
- Keeping heavy tender traffic away from sensitive stream environments
- Consolidating multiple sites into one
- Meeting the high water demand for the incident
- Being very clean by not creating a lot of slop that leads to mud and site degradation
- Minimizing impacts to instream fish resources
Because of the way the high-tower water filling units worked, and because of the professionalism and resource sensitivity of the operators, I would not hesitate to strongly recommend the use of such a unit, specifically the Spence Industrial operators, on future incidents."
Sincerely,
Scott Spaulding
Fire Suppression Resource Advisor, Fisheries Biologist
Ninemile Ranger District, Huson, Montana
Above: Our overhead tower pumps in action.
Tower Pump Specifications
Pumps
6" Cornell high-performance direct drive pumps with run dry safety system. Includes 500' supply hose with Fisheries-approved intake screens to be non-disruptive to sensitive fish habitats. Powered by 2003-2004 4-cylinder Perkins water cooled turbo-charged 110 HP diesel engines, conforming to all current emissions standards. Sound enclosures reduce sound levels to less than 70dBs. Pumps are mounted on twin axle trailers with built-in spill containment
Water Delivery
The 14' tender fill towers have operator safety platforms which meet OSHA standards, and auxiliary hookups for engine tank filling. Most tenders are filled and on their way within 5 minutes.
Crew
Two crew members with all approved fire gear, shelters, safety gear, training, and fire course completion records.
Support Vehicles
Late model Dodge pickups setup for night operations, refueling capabilities, and US Forest Service-approved radios.