Fire Train - Delta Fire All aboard the Union Pacific fire work train
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2018
- I first caught footage of this train while it was fighting the Delta fire in Shasta County, CA. I made contact with the crew, two days later, I was invited aboard for a short journey and was given the opportunity to help fight the fire as part of the trip.
I haven’t seen one of those gooseneck swivel valves in 40 years! I used a nozzle like that working in a pulp mill where we washed half cooked pulp out of giant cooking vessels after a batch was cooked for a number of hours. The cooking vessels were called blow pits and were high temperature, ceramic lined boxes of about 50x50x50 feet in size. Anyway, fascinating video! Thanks for sharing!
Stang manual monitor.
37 years in the Canadian Fire Services and I've never seen anything like that, that is very cool and so practical. I would say to the Province of British Columbia and Canadian National Railway, next door to us with 300+ forest fires burning, HERE IS "PART" OF YOUR ANSWER PM. HORGAN!..watch it...learn from it...do it....
Interesting video. I never knew trains like this existed.
rivited tanker cars they must be 70+ years old because they started welding in WW2!
Richard Smeets Well it's only holding water so that's a plus
This is a video ABC 10 did on me and the train. There's a little history behind them on it. Check it out.
czcams.com/video/a9pUMgibYMQ/video.html
I have seen a picture of one in Russia. It was even painted in fire engine red. Apparently Switzerland ordered three new ones complete with roof mounted cannons. But I never knew the US had them as well.
Took the exact words out of my mouth. Pretty good idea, tracks go through remote roadless areas, I wonder if they have bigger dedicated cars for wild fire fighting only, might be a new idea....
Great idea to hook hoses to when it is stopped, could put hundreds of fire fighters, tens of thousands of gallons of water and all the gear needed.
I remember a guy in Portola telling us about these firefighting trains. Cool to see footage of them. Thanks for the upload
Thanks. It was fun making it.
The McCloud RR in Northern California ran several fire trains as I recall from my time spent in Redding.
Is that a Union Pacific tattoo on that guy’s arm? That’s a hardcore UP employee!
Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.
He's patched in.
It’s a temp tattoo...the union had him get it for promotional purposes.
There are still people that love what they do. Most of them are 30 years old or more though. These new generations don't take anything important serious. They get tattoos of unitcorns and meaningless stuff.
@@jasonw4932 No...
Retired firefighter here + I like Choo Choo's = Perfect retirement job!....
I am as well, looks fun. but i saw cringeworthy stuff too. Like that hand crew tailboarding on the tanker. (Its on one of these i just watched.) This is a impressive concept, imagine what a purposed design would look like...
Don't tell the railroad that you like trains, it's an instant disqualification. I wish I was joking.
Gotta love the sound of that old severe duty Wisconsin motor chugging away reliably on the fire pump! That’ll last longer than the prime mover in the locomotive!
Dedicated fire fighting train is next step. Great for remote areas. Engines can be anything available, so many ideas...
1. Passenger cars full of firefighters.
2. 20+ water cars
3. Boxcars for gear
4. Auto-sprinkler system for spraying trackside AND to cover train in emergency
5. Fire fighting cars dedicated to pumping and spraying
Train can be stopped in the middle of nowhere next to a river/lake and become a pumping/relief/staging/supply/mobile command station.
I think in Europe they they what you just said.....
I'm from germany and i dont know if there trains like this but the idea is good
😂😂😂
But that would also take up an important rail line. Diverting freight trains would cost alot
It all comes down to funding. Wildland fires are rarely attacked head on, and what you see here is mopping up after a fire has come thru.
As an ex Volunteer Firefighter, we had training from various companies, on, or about, how to fight fires, around their property, buildings, and equipment. L.I.R.R., Long Island Lighting Co., and MacArthur Airport, Grumman, and Republic Aviation, and the L.I. Ferry Services, all coordinated training with us, to keep us "Smarter than the Average Bear", as YOGI BEAR used to say! The L.l.R.R. was ALL wooden ties, or sleepers, as other countries call them, SO, the technique was to wet them, and everything else within 25, to 50 feet from the tracks. Anything else outside that was for Regular Fire Trucks, Helicopters, or 'Fire Bombers' to fight. Even AMTRAK, had its own "Fire Train" equipment for Their "Northeast Corridor" tracks, and trains.
A couple of these spots look like they were where the tunnel/battle scenes from "von Ryan's Express" were filmed.
My Dad was a Diesel Electric Driver in Australia. One day he was tasked to run a loco that had been sitting idling for a couple of days. After a good hot run he looked back and holy crap there was plenty of grass on fire behind him. Dry hot weather.
Amazing footage of this train
Nice old tank cars, still riveted together
Glad I’m not the only one that saw the 70+ year old tankers.....
I was happy seeing this video pop up thanks to Google's benevolently spooky algorithm, because I saw this train working as I was driving through on i5!
Much safer watching it this way lol
Yeah, it was still pretty active up there while it was working. Thanks for the comment. KF6ZJD
ABC News 10 did a story on me after seeing the fire train. They go into a little bit of history of fire trains and have some pretty cool videos and photos on it.
czcams.com/video/a9pUMgibYMQ/video.html
We've got one of these parked in the siding in Valentine TX. Never seen it used or even moved.
I’ll have to look for it next time I’m through there.
You never know though
Could be a good thing considering it's job 😉
Your better having it and not needing it than needed it and not having it...
@@jasonm3871 any luck?
I couldn't figure out why they needed 2 locomotives for such a short train, but I guess considering what they are doing you need a backup just in case they need to get the hell out of Dodge
That’s exactly the reason. If they breakdown they want a backup. Good observation
Last thing you want us to break down and get overtaken by fire
You also have to figure that equipment plus several thousands of gallons of water isn’t lite weight. The compacted weight well strain a locomotive.
An ES44 can handle a few loaded 40' tank cars without breaking a sweat. Those engines barely felt that train.
@@UnionPacificFan I meant in case of a breakdown with a unit.
There are three of these fire cars and water cars on the Valley Subdivision (Roseville to Dunsmuir) and Black Butte Sub (Dunsmuir to Klamath Falls). One each at Redding, Dunsmuir and Klamath Falls. The equipment is subject to vandalism and theft, so they don't put much money into them. They are also full of water year round and an additive would be hard on those ancient tanks. Their main purpose is for tunnel and bridge fires, and 2018 was the first time I had seen them used since at least 1990.
They're doing what the can, which *may help* keep a fire flank from their ROW. However, a good wind change would send flames easily across their ROW, especially with tall trees near the tracks. A lot of that moisture will evaporate fairly quick, especially from the finer fuels.
The flames within their reach were in patchy fuels, so the threat wasn't too bad. They could really use a good deck gun that would flow some serious GPMs and give them hella reach, but they'd be refilling quite a bit. But as I said earlier, they're doing decent work to maybe help save their stuff.
Mark Cross Better than nothing.
Mark Cross I agree with u
Did you learn the term ROW today? Is that what you're trying to tell us?
Mark crock. F%*# you
Firefighter Captain here. I agree but need to stay more stationary till they extinguish flames instead of watering them, much which will evaporate
I love trains and have been riding them cross-country for over 59 years. Granddad was a scale inspector for the Rock and husband worked at Rock's headquarters in Chicago.
That was the nastiest summer going from Ca. to Oregon. Developed a lung problem doing that. It was unhealthy from Redding to Grants Pass. Never seen anything like that ever. Hope this year's not that bad again.
Fast forward to 2020
What we have right now here in Shasta area. I’m sure they’re doing that same run right now too.
@@youmadbro742 and 2021 😕
velmi krasne videjko ,nie z pohladu poziaru ,ale ako chranite to co ostava ,no keby som bola obcanom vasej krasnej krajiny narodnych parkou ,tak bi som sla pomahat hasit ,hoci nie som poziiarnik,ale zaucila bi som sa hned,lebo pre mna kazdy strom ,krovina ci porast ,ci steblo travy je premna zivot , vyznam ,kde mate klud,oazy ticha sumu historickych starych stromou ,sum lesa ,obdivujem tak narocnu pracu ktoru vykonavate ,kde niektory z vas polozia vlastny zivot ,ja svoj les stale zalievam ,hoci voda je vzacnost v dnesnej dobe ,ale zase peniaze niesu vsetko ,zivot je vsetko.drzim palce pri tak narocnej praci ,velmi sa mi paci ako davate nadej aj tomu co ostava.drzim palce pri tak narocnej praci,milujem vasu zem pre tie krasne narodne parky ,pre turistiku a klud v lesoch.vdaka
Wow that’s awesome!
Union Pacific to the rescue!
This looks like a really fun job.
For the first hour or so. Them it turns into work at a job.
Why the fuel powered pumps?? That Loco is putting out enough electricity to power 2 homes...electric pumps would be less costly and quieter. Plus it could save space for more water tanks. Just my .02 cents
Good point. But the locomotives dont have any kind of output plug. All the power goes directly to the traction motors. They do however have a giant air compressor with output hoses. That would be a good idea to use instead of fuel.
Freight locomotives don't make head end power like Passenger loco's. Also special use equipment like this isn't going to get any special development for something that's only occasionally or rarely used. Whatever is quick, cheap and proven to be reliable is going to get used.
Couple reasons, 1st, the gross majority don’t make extra head end power. For every kw taken off for train usage, 1.3 horsepower is taken from the engine, therefore tractive power. Having dedicated units for the fire train may be feasible, but if one is out for maintenance, any locomotive on the roster can pull this train as is, not needing a dozen special built dedicated engines. 2nd, the idea is that tank trains can be set off on remote spurs to be stationed for firefighting, or supporting ground crews. It would be more effective to have every unit on the train be self supporting.
Because the State forestry probably gave them those old Onan and Wisconsin Pumps from surplus
@@jaysmith1408 All solid reasons... My question is more why aren't the hoses fixed like sprinkers etc. Like a fire fighting TUG BOAT...They have several fixed and one or two directional hoses. One man can operate them, infact I've served on ones where the Captain drives and the 1st mate operates the hoses and a deck hand acts a human lookout in a recess on the deck/ stern on a radio to the 1st mate.
Now THIS is the job I want. Best of both worlds.
I’m thinking they need some much stronger pumps considering they have thousands of gallons of water at their disposal
Definitely... Something equivalent to a fire boat.
2000 gpm minimum and pressure in the 800 psi range for reach and penetration. It xan and should all be controles with monitors with booster hoses for spotfires, with pressure regulators on them. As for water supply, they would need more... throw on 2 locos and 20 to 30 rail cars all filled with water. Hexk throw in some gel cars, to make barricade gel.. Stuff lasts longer than water.
Also let’s take into consideration that they aren’t supposed to put out the fire but to prevent it from spreading. They wouldn’t need stronger pumps because they just stop the fire from spreading to the nearby tracks.
@Joseph Bloe man bring the heat! I like that
@@BMMEC6000 so lighty spitting on a fire should keep it from spreading , point taken
@@KosukiFire fire boats have the luxury of unlimited water supply….
Fire Train, That's a Good Idea, Well Done.
Real heros there trying to save what they can and prevent. Nice job UP. Great video.
The REAL heros dont wear capes .. they wear fire suits.
Those are ancient tank cars!! Love it!!
Good work Dan !
Check out the old riveted dome tops! Those have to be at least 50 years old.
They probably use the tank cars that are not worth repairing for revenue service. On a fire train, who cares if is leaks a little bit.
Hot-riveted tank. That's old school. This is a pretty smart idea - the right of way is a pre-made fire break, and frequently along bodies of water, making it better.
Now that's a fire engine.
Very cool, never heard of this type of train or activity before thank you
Fighting the drought, watering the trees and bushes.
So sweet of them to water the plants
@@bryanmartinez6600 LMAO
Just protecting the line
ya lol like that little bit of water is gonna help. An hour later its all gonna be soaked up anyways.
Now this is railroading.
I want to be that guy with the UP tattoo on his wrist. I wish I could be that proud of my job, defending my career from natures fiery advance with a bigass tank of water and a firehose.
I knew a guy who had tattoos from different places he worked at, most recent one he was fired from.
@Slippery Storm No woman of mine is going to leave me for a postal worker. My league is FedEx or better.
That wisconsin V 4 needs a new muffler !!! sadly you cannot buy those engines any more the EPA made rules for stationary engines of that size and they found it too expensive to make them compliant so they just quit building them .
Used to have one on the drill rig I worked behind. Tough engine, we abused it well!
I know that engine as well, run forever under any load. America, the King of shooing themselves in the foot. What shame we can't do the simplests things anymore, and we wonder why we're in debt to other Nations.
Jhon Siders They were dam near indestrustable. You could wear them out but it was hard to do. Only option is to still find new parts and rebuild them. But you know what else are almost gone anymore is all of the old small engine repair shops that carried all of those parts as that's what people did back then. You repaired or rebuilt what you had. We now live in a throw away society. Throw it away and buy a new one, which in this case you can't. Those old shops I spoke of also were a place of employment for anywhere from one to maybe three men or more and maybe a kid after school that they actually made their living there or in the case of the high school kid it earned him som spending money. Most of that's all gone now days.
More Horsepower Hours and they meant it!
@@curtnicholson7771 its a shame that we are that way now. i collect the old antique stuff but some of them are getting near impossible to find parts for
Thanks!
Wasn’t aware of one but glad that there is one if needed!
I thought the railroads did away with firemen and just ran with conductors and engineers now. Glad to see they're back.
Tommy Truth
OMG hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Very Good play on words. The Firemen that were on steam engines were to keep the locomotives making steam, but some people don't know that. They weren't Fire Fighters.
HEY UNION PACIFIC, I HOPE YOU READ THIS. Your setup is a good idea. But, you need to add a fire retardant like Phoscheck ( the pink stuff), or Thermo-Gel. Add a proportioning system to the water supply, BINGO, you can pretreat the brush and timber with a thermal barrier. Ask the USFS how this works. They’ve done all the studies.
Another expert having brain farts in youtube comment section. Yeah, Union Pacific would not read that if you wouldn't put it in all caps. Well done, Captain mo-Ron.
@@kriskurowski9404, calling people names, only gets them pissed at the name caller. If you had the intelligence of an adult, you would probably know that. But you'll probably just threaten me too!
very old tankers didnt think there were any around any more
No SCBA or any PPe. Just guys out there grinding!
nobody:
Kids into firetrucks or Trains: AHHHHHHH!
This is awesome!
I think the railroad would be more effective if they use what they do usually, hauling heavy weight. They can carry massive amounts of water that can be transferred to trucks and helicopters.
The train has established routes through massive amounts of acreage, which are not accessible by car or truck
Good for you all at UP. Keep up the good work stay safe and go home to your families. God bless.
Would it not be better to use a mixture of water and fire retardant? Saves water and better protects from possible future flare up.
I assume they may be using wet water.. Phos-Chek retardant might be a bit much for the equipment and personnel.
wow, is that the best they could muster up ? a couple of riveted, hundred year old tank cars and a 4 cylinder Wisconsin powered pump - i dont think the railroad was even trying -
Terrific video!
polish the inside of the monitor nozzle.. so its as sooth as glass.. take some 2 inch sections of thin brass tubing and solder them together into an insert that fits in the wide opening of the monitor tapered nozzle. that will take monitor stream much farther..
wayne p that makes sense distance loss do to friction.
Improves laminar flow czcams.com/video/y7Hyc3MRKno/video.html
Interesting video I wonder why the train company ever built a wider trailer to but on a pumper truck and a snorkel truck this one mounted to the train with that and still useable tanker they could be filed from a lake. To fill and with valves to send the water down
They wanted to protect their 'Pole Line' from the fire.
What a cool job!
How cool a job that would be.
Great work
That's bad ass my friend
We are the Union Pacific Railroad people
We can handle it.
Kolejowa Straż Pożarna!!!!! FULL RESPECT GOOD JOB
Before everyone thinks this is for fighting FOREST FIRES = HOLD ON.... This is for stopping the fires that other trains cause when there moving freight I. Dry conditions.... ITS a. After effect and fire extinguisher for fires by the trackside... Older design engines leave lots of sparks coming out exhaust on the top of the DIESEL ENGINES... THEY CAUSE GRASS AND BRUSH FIRES NEAR THE TRACKS
They will need a hell of a lot more trips than that to make a difference to stop a forest fire from crossing their track.
I cannot imagine that being effective in any way. Lol
Thought the same. Not enough water through the hoses. I wonder why they do this manually?
I think they are more concerned with railroad property and equipment than the forest. Putting out pole fires and keeping the right of way safe.
My question would be is that straight water or is there retardant mixed in, straight water would have evaporated before the fire ever got there, a mixed in retardant might leave enough residual residue to possibly be somewhat effective even after dry.
@@travistobiasson Valid point, that hadn't crossed my mind.
I would bet so.
@@travistobiasson Straight water. UP was protecting their own assets, more of a "feel good" effort.
Those guy’s upper bodies muscles got to be hurting by the end of the day man handling those hoses.
I got to hold the hose for a short period of time. I was a fireman in my younger days and can tell you there is a big difference between standing on a sold, non-moving surface and one that is constantly shifting. I think their legs are probably getting the worse of it all. But yeah, it's harder on the arms too.
Well this looks like endless Summer fun 😎😎😎👍
Joshua Imler let us know when you signup and make sure to get some footage!!!
@@parteibonza sorry not sorry but did I say something to confuse you.....????
Not alot of folks realize in california they in some areas have only railways to reach hard to reach areas so some trains do act as fire trucks much like the big 747's and the now retired hawaiian mars. Yeah its cool to see one at work
Man they should plant crops besides the track and the train could ride by everyday and water them
Benjimen Franklin. They do. Pot plants
Excellent for drought conditions. How else will those forested areas get water?
Can they/do they get off the train if the water jet doesn't reach the fire ??
Really amazing...
Is that an electric fence (or power line)?!😳😂
Love those fold up chairs on the roof though👍.
Probably snow or rock fence to prevent debris rolling down mountain and onto tracks.
@@terribeth3616 makes sense, but there’s still the extra wires attached to it. They could be telephone wires, but they look a bit thick for that and there’s also probably a problem with explorers happening upon the tracks, especially if there’s usually campsites nearby (I don’t know about this though, I am definitely not familiar with the area considering I live in Australia 😉)
Here the rail has a fire car as the last car on a train sent out to sharpen the rails. It doesn’t always work and they start wildland fires behind them
Was a 30 year firefighter, Retired, They hiring? Never knew about this. Very interesting!!!
Do they drop off water to help refill the truck tanks too? Just one of the tankers I think would refill lots of fire trucks.
What the fuck, I am a firefighter and I love trains, how did I not know this existed.
Is this in any way helpful? I'm sure it's fun, but surely that amount of water won't do anything to a fire.
Noscopes Allowed yeah, it does. The water makes the landscape around wet, and it helps with keeping the area around the tracks safe
Boy now there are some old tanks. Riveted! Are these fires set by the engines? That used to be a problem years ago in the plains of Illinois where I live. But does not hardly happen any more. My guess was the newer design of the engines now days. As back when I'm talking about is not the days of steam but the first two to three decades of beginning diesel that was causing these fires. You would see the fire trucks out a couple three times a month putting them out.
Saw the BNSF fire train at Wishram yard.
Great idea..... But the water will vaporise long before the fire gets to it.Only good on the spot fires. Better to add some form of retardant, now that would go a long way!
Very cool!
Who knew??!!
My dream job right here!!!
hey union pacific, im not the smartest guy that ever lived, but if you need help figuring out a more effective configuration let me know - unbelievable
Now that's the way to tackle forest fires from the Railroad tracks ....if Railroads go through the forest
So this morning I just watched this video and I liked it. I never knew this type of train existed. But I am wondering , why are the guys just spraying water on green stuff. I never saw a lot of fire. Please explain this to a retired structural firefighter.
In wildland fire, you can't put out the existing fire, you have to stop it from spreading instead. So you wet everything around it, especially still green vegetation that can absorb a lot of water or cut Firebreaks, where there is no fuel to be found, and hope that stops the fire.
They could have used this in Australia.
Why haven't they made a firetruck be refitted with rail wheels to run on the track with a diesel train behind to move them faster
Very nice catch .
Is that plain water or have they added a fire retardant?
just straight water.
I would love that job.
Alright, so the first fire that was shown in the video, they put water on it but continued past. Any reason for that? Too far off the right of way? Not the biggest threat at the present time? Didnt seem like a big fire and the monitor stream was reaching it. The next fire shown opposite a fence they did stop and fight. Just curious why pass some up and why fight others?
The train had made several passes along that area. Most of it was pretty well soaked as we went through. That said, they were not there to fight the forest fire, they were there protecting their assets. The train made way along the path of the fire until it got to the area where the railroad's equipment was most threatened.
The remaining hot spots were hit throughout the day.
@@danr5539 Makes perfect sense... thanks for the reply!
Here's a link to another video where Channel 10 did a story on me. Check it out! There's a little history about the trains.
czcams.com/video/a9pUMgibYMQ/video.html
Wow, so many armchair experts. I don't think they would waste the money doing this if there wasn't years of experience and tangible results. So, not a waste of money , time, or water. They know what they are doing.
As an aside, wonder what they would charge to come up and water MY pot plants?
@@goranpujic7248
Not unless it's the same opinion as I have. Lol.😀
Seems like snorkels mounted in several places would be more effective
What if they had to bail out because of the fire going fast? Wouldn't it take awhile?
I guess they probably don’t use wooden bridges out there?
Excelente labor
Anyone else notice the four cylinder wisconsin engine powering the water pump?
I did
Nice. Im not the only one.
Need stronger pumps but nice work for what they got
B h they’re just there to put water on dry spots to keep it from spreading and maybe spot sires so there pumps are more than powerful enough(I could be wrong)
That would be fun
what a easy job
Have they ever hooked up and supplied fire engines.
Seems a little ridiculous, firr isn't gonna be stopped by lightly spraying the area with some water
Johnny Watkins it worked. None of the rail companies facilities were damaged by the fire. The humidity, water on the ground and the fire fighting done kept the trains running.
You would think they could get some better nozzles than plastic.