News
March 28, 2008
Fire Station Uses Rain Water To Wash Vehicles
The historic drought has inspired residents, businesses and government agencies to come up with creative ways to conserve water. Among them is the City of Raleigh Fire Department. In an experimental project, the Fire Department is using rain water collected in barrels to wash vehicles at a fire station on Western Boulevard.
“It’s been very successful so far,” Assistant Fire Chief Phillip Woodlief said.
The Fire Department has placed two 250-gallon converted rain barrels on both sides of Fire Station No. 8, located at 5001 Western Boulevard. The barrels are positioned behind the fire station. “We wanted to keep them out of sight from the public” for appearance reasons, Chief Woodlief said.
Recent rains filled the two barrels to capacity, providing enough water for the fire station to wash its vehicles, Chief Woodlief said. Firefighters at Station No. 8 use a sump pump to pump water from the rain barrels. “We were quite happy with the results of this experiment,” Chief Woodlief said.
So much so that the Fire Department is looking at acquiring more of the large rain barrels for other fire stations to use to collect water for vehicle washing. “If the drought continues into the summer, we know we can use them at other fire stations with a great amount of success,” Chief Woodlief said.
Keeping fire engines clean is important not just for appearance sake. Chief Woodlief said that components of the engines operate more efficiently when kept clean, thus increasing the vehicles’ service life and protecting the City’s -- and taxpayers’ -- investment in the fire engines.
Prepared by:
John Boyette
Public Affairs Specialist
Public Affairs Department
For More Information Contact:
Phillip Woodlief
Assistant Fire Chief/Fire Operations
Fire Department
310 West Martin Street, Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-831-6496
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