Building a homestead fire truck!  

Andrew I've been a volunteer firefighter for 25 plus years; started as a Jr firefighter at 13 and have recently been promoted to District Chief, and have seen a lot of different fires over the years. 1st off that's a great brush fire set up. Great job. 2nd (and please understand where I'm coming from here) if by chance something does happen and your house catches fire and you both get out....stay out. Spray from the exterior but please don't go back in. 3rd and my plug for our volunteer system is you should think about joining your local station. You would be a great asset to a department.

this one gives me ice maker vibes. hope it goes viral

Great idea! Get a trailer and mount several totes on it that are daisy-chained together. The trailer would also add space to keep all your tools together and at hand.

Pretty much the standard Australian farm unit - I would put a T piece on the outlet. And feed back to the tank. Lets you leaving the pump idling and feed back to the tank while keeping the pump cool.

Hey Andrew great video as usual don’t forget you’re gonna have a pool you get a long enough suction hose you’ll have a ton of water at your disposal for right around the property up close to the house

Study hardware used on "brush trucks" since some of it may suit your use case.

Wow, you are very inventive. You made a homestead fire system EASY. Thanks. You have a thumbs UP and a sub. I like your welding table attachment idea to your welding cart, too. Clever again!

Man that is an awesome project! Can water your food plots too!

The fact that your pump is removable in 1 second and swappable to another tote is BRILLANT! Really nice setup! Be safe out there! Living in the country IS life!! 😍

Amazing fire fighting machine. You never cease to amaze me on your accomplishments. You are so talented.

When you get your pool....you will have a huge reservoir.....get you a long inlet hose to drop in pool if needed for house 🔥

At this point, you already remedied this, but you need a recirculation line on the pump back to the tank.

Very useful idea for property safety and controlled burn! (and wayyyy cheaper than a tank truck)

Great setup, we did something very similar with totes and pump, but we opted to eventually go with a smaller tandem axle trailer to hold two totes, the pump, hoses, fuel, etc. We also figured that it would be easier to move around since we could use any tractor, truck, etc to pull it.

depending on that pump motor to start 'and' keep running when ya need it in an emergency...perhaps a gravity water tank near the home for backup...or install you a private sprinkler system in the house; putting a few back up plans in the works in case (God forbid) ya can't fight a fire or aren't at home...great idea and food for thought for many in rural areas!!

You will burn the pump up by keeping the nozzle closed water needs to be moving all the time or the pump will get hot and break

Nice setup! Being able to drop more totes of water and easily swap between them is a very good thing.

Andrew, another awesome build! Love the cradle you built to hold the pump. Ingenious design. Hopefully you won’t ever have to use it to fight an actual fire, but as you said it will be perfect to water an area quickly or washing down the house or barn. Always better to be prepared for unknown situations.

😂 between your joke about the little garden hose taking forever for your grass and the Super Soaker fight I like this video. I think this method here is easier and cheaper for me than digging a small pond to try to irrigate my 3 acre garden

That's an awesome project! I'm sure you will find many different uses for it now.

Andrew, I hate being "that guy", but I would love to see you wear a full face shield when using that grinder with the thin cutoff wheels. Buddy of mine is a jobsite safety inspector and was called to the hospital for a deposition and pictures of a guy that had one of those thin blades explode and embed itself in his nose, cheek, top plate of mouth. Guy will need lots of reconstructive surgery. Be safe!

oh my that brings back memories! when my friend was still alive him and i would fire up 3 3inch trash pumps a 2 inch to water his 6 acre pasture just for the grass! we would also use a tote and a 1 inch pump to water the small garden and this was all off ditch water he had rights to! we sent down millions of gallens with them pumps and they were all harbor freight pumps!

Another option is a short hose you could work out the cab door. Better for grass fires. Inventing a clip to hold the pump to the tote might not be a bad idea either. You'll forget to drive gently if you're under stress. If you're looking to replace the hose, a real might be a good investment. Otherwise, you'll have to control or abandon all your hose before you go fetch more water. I've been a volunteer firefighter in Australia for 10 years. Be safe about what you chose to attempt. Were still building houses, cars and you can replant grass. We've yet to master replacing people

Excellent idea!! We live in rural TN and had field catch fire last month. Took the our local volunteer fire dept 30 minutes to get to our house.

Very neat build! The hazmat decal on the tote refers to vinyl adhesives, which would normally be waterproof for the most part. Assuming that was what was in the tote, should not be much leeching into the water. Sitting in the sun getting hot might affect it. Anyway, you would probably benefit from a quick overview of how to fight fires, where to stand, where to aim the water, when to retreat, etc. There are basic techniques that will make a huge difference in how effective your efforts will be and help keep you safe. You probably know a fighfighter or could find someone at your local RFD who can offer some advice.

You are a great Steward of the land, your fire department is an excellent idea

Nice!

Great idea! I’m 26 miles from our volunteer fire department. I’ve been looking for a large tank, but the totes are much easier to come by.

What would be economical also... fill those with any rain water any time it may rain... just a suggestion...

Wow, amazing. You and all your great skills and idea's

Very smart to have multiple

awsome job, coming from a retired firefighter !! the average firetruck carries 500 gallons , you can fight a lot of fire with that , they also make a forestry hose that is small in diameter that would make that tank last forever !!

Love it! Super smart!!

Great idea. Very innovative.

Truley a man of many talents 👍😁

Very cool. Love it. Nice & clean setup

Sir that is awesome but that is a wonderful video I really enjoy when you build special project's like this.

As a past Aussie volunteer firey of 20 years from 1995-2018 and now an owner/operator of a private trailer unit your design is rock solid and creative including pump heat shield a few things to note for improvement * Where you can invest in 3/4'' 50 ft forestry grade lay flat hose or 25 mm 3/4'' black fire hose that will give you better pressure * Place the 250 gallon IBC tote onto a trailer that can be towed on back of your tractor * Look at also putting a hose reel on the tote frame or a trailer that will allow for instant deployment of the hose without worrying about kinks * Baffle balls or even heaps of pool noodles to stop the water from sloshing around

I became a Patreon subscriber just for times like this. I needed an idea for watering my garden and for fire protection and once again Andrew comes through. Excellent video sir. Heading to HF as soon as I finish my coffee.

That's a good build 👍👍and great preparation for fire control. 🔥🧯 My Kubota L3901 can only lift about 1000# so at 8# per gallon, I will have to figure how full I can keep the tank. Thanks Andrew...now I have another thing on my list I have to do!! 🤣

Great idea. You are ready mow. Enjoyed that video. Hope ya'll have a wonderful day. Love you guys.

Very insightful!

Wow that is the greatest idea to have some type of water system that you can put out fires on your property

I am so amazed of all your knowledge ...love watching all your video.

Add dawn dishwashing soap to your tanks. Makes a nice foam for additional capabilities. Also get some decent hoses from govdeals. Can't have enough hose! Great setup!

It's any boy's dream come true: to have a fire truck:))) So versatile!!!

Great idea and well executed.

Andrew check with you local Fire Dept. some times they have old fire hoses that you may be able to buy or give you. Check it out, it can't hurt to ask.

Hi, Andrew! I am definitely in love with your shop! It has to be relaxing and gratifying working on projects there. This is a GREAT project, Mr. Thinker Tinkerer! See you tomorrow night.

Can't be a firefighters without a fireman's axe lol. Great project I've thought about something like this.

I love how you use your welder to do all sorts of projects. I have a steel dock and am thinking about making a few things for it like a kayak/paddleboard holder that hangs off my walkway. I'd love it if on your next project you could talk about the basics of welding and welding equipment. In the meantime I'll search youtube....

I want that for water great setup Andrew 🙂

Looks great 👍 fun to watch 👏

This was a very useful project! I think your mind never shuts down lol . But with this fire fighting tool is awesome!

Excellent idea!

Awesome idea!

Fantastic project Andrew!! What a great idea to have on the property. I like all the uses other than fighting fires. I love this stuff you come up with. 👍👍👍 🌞🇨🇦

good idea young man. keep up the good work and ideas. be bless and safe and love. oh you can give the bear a bath ha ha ha.

I need this welding setup! Nice!

VERY SMART! LOVE IT!

Hi Andrew, I’ve been following you only for a short time, but I’m hooked. Love what you do and will go back to see your other videos. This is one of the best way’s I’ve seen the IBC being used. Wish I had come up with this idea.

Keep a leaf blower handy as well they work amazing at putting grass fires out by blowing it back into the burn

I like your idea with the flexible input hose. I just brought my ibc tote home today and will get my pump tomorrow. I was going to plumb a hard pvc input manifold but may go with the setup you are running. Thanx

Multi use tank/pump. Love it. I want to make one too.

Great idea sir. Daniel Arms runs a spot sprayer that I was also impressed with, he used a small tank on his side by side that I think would also be useful. I only have six acers, but I could see having both.

Another excellent idea and video Andrew. I could see them on a trailer and daisy-chained together, massive fire fighting power.

That's a great setup & great ideal & probably inexpensive

Quick way to top off your new pool, cool

That's nice. When you had the video recently about harvesting the wild blackberries I wondered about this. When you were talking about a drought, I was thinking there must be a way to haul and spray water to get a better harvest. I think this would be very good. If you could rig it to be controlled from the tractor, maybe with a remote controlled valve you could just drive and spray the bushes on the side of the pasture.

Great idea! You never cease to amaze

Maybe you can fix up a diverter on one of your downspouts where you can divert the rain water into those totes to refill. That would save your well and well pump. Free water, you just have to capture it. You could expand and do drip irrigation of your garden with those totes also.

If you have three or four of them on a trailer you can plumb them all together with 2-in PVC pipe with the single pump and then you'll have a thousand gallons of water and don't forget the quick disconnect for the discharge hose on the pump and keep up with the awesome content

Great video. Great idea

Consider adding buckets with handles to help with using to put out a fire. 5 gallon and buckets in different sizes would allow other people not as strong to help. Keeping everything necessary and dedicated to put out a fire all in one place is essential to readiness. You don't have time to look for anything but getting water to the fire. Great system and setup. Try have some practice drills for you and other family members in case you're not home when an emergency happens.

in the chaos of fighting a legitimate fire, it takes too much time to constantly swap the pump from tote to tote. just have two totes with a short 3 ft hose on it and empty into the tote with the pump running. you may want to take a ax handle and attach a rubber mud flap or high quality floor mat on it for beating out small fires, also a pulaski ax. it has an ax on one side and a pick blade on the other. chop roots or dig a trench. great for making a fire break. thanks.

Sounds to me Andrew like you need to look in to joining the local volunteer fire department!!! Great idea for securing your own house and property....

I love the way you think, man. My mind runs like this, too.

remember to tell your naibough...and local station about you 1000 gallon trilor and 4x250 tanks app 4 tons huge game changer when you arrive and ther is water suppley i would make more wersetile hose outlet. 1 hose is just not enough if house is in line of fire or barn .. it´s the amount of water you can lay down who cool most fiers out.. remember heat oxygen combustabels take on away .. heat .. with water fire die.. ... make 1 more big on and 2 shorter smaller to a controled burn who ran wild

One of you rest best mini projects yet Andrew 🙌

Really good idea. Totes are designed to carry about 1 ton of water. So, your loader needs to have that capacity. Smaller 3 series JDs do not have that capacity as you probably know. That is why I own a 4066R like yours. So, people should know to use a smaller tote based on a smaller loader size. Fighting a fire is a lot about getting to it quick. This seems to be the ticket!

Good idea can't wait for the fire department to get there in case of fire you need to be able to battle the fire while they are on there way there to help

Looks great, got beat to it by everyone else, was going to suggest daisy chaining with a second fittting and/or a manifold so you can hot swap, and addind a trasfer pump long hose and reservouir pool so you could feed the totes from a garden hose, water truck, swimming pool or river.

That is a neat build,good job

You can also make spray bars so you can attach them to the tank with the same type of hook system so you can use the tractor and drive around watering dry spots. You can hook the spray bars up with electric solenoids inside the cab so you can easily run one side or both and turn them on and off from inside the cab and hook them up with quick disconnect plugs for easy disconnection when not using...

Ya just never know what’s coming next! Awesome! Had some Andrew Camarata vibes in the videos beginning cutting, grinding, welding, hammering lol

Awesome thanks for sharing

Cool Idea..Would be Very handy for watering our Very large garden and 2 other small ones ..we have ben pumping water with a old sump pump from a pond with a generator an a 300gal tank and packing it in 5 gal buckets to try n get through this drought we ben in ..till yesterday but when you have a big garden & dont get rain for a month or more an it 100 degrees ish you only got 2 choices pump,haul and hand water every thing or loose every thing It is A Wack ton of Hard Work to try to stay on top of it all !

Great idea, Harbor Freight usually disappoints, I shop there to I guess we just can't help being hopeful! I've seen the totes used under the rain gutter spout to keep from putting a strain on your well it'll catch rain water.

FYI, in order to calculate the theoretical pressure, multiply the manufacturers maximum head pressure by .43. So..100 feet of head pressure gives you 43psi. This does not include many other variables such as friction loss through the piping or hoses or flow rate. The pump manufacturers have a " Pump Curve" chart that will give you somewhat reasonable data on performance.

Another option is to stage a couple full totes around your property. That way you can take one with you, and have a refill closer by.

You really need to go into business! With all your ideas the sky is the limit!

Andrew your always thinking a head if you put more totes on a trailer could you link them to gather?

Nice project! I think it would be cool to use a car trailer and make or install a larger water tank on it with the pump attached. Maybe install a few totes that are interconnected with each other onto the trailer. Like that you don't need to be switching between totes every 5 minutes and you can tow it around with the tractor or a truck with a tow hitch. But, on the flip side, refilling will take more time due to a higher volume of storage once you run out of water.

That is an awsome idea.

Oh swell, another project for me to do.. ;) Seriously though, a great idea, and one I've been toying around with, but you've help clarify what I'm going to do. The IBC totes also come in a 325 or 330 gallon size, which would provide about 6.5 minutes of water (using the same rate as your 250 gal/5 min). My house in the country is round, with 4 alcoves around the periphery. I'm going to plant a dedicated 330 gallon tote in each alcove, and just take the pump and hose to whatever tote is appropriate. The VFD in my little town is a few minutes away, so with multiple totes and a long enough hose, I should be able to hold on until the cavalry arrives. Thanks for a great video!

If it was my set up I would put it on a small trailer to be pulled by anything. That is very heavy, pulling on a trailer would be more practical I think⁉️ PLENTY OF POWER, PUT OUT ANY FIRE 🔥 GOOD LUCK👍 Vinny 🇺🇸

I love it❤️ you rock Andrew 👍👍 Now you got me thinking 🤔. I would make sure you cross train you wife to drive the tractor to be able to pick up totes for transport. She could be filling one tote and getting you another if your fighting a big 🔥 fire.

Awesome. 💦🔥 As far as chlorine and bromide, they’re not really harmful to grass and plants. They’re not good for it by any means but it’s not gonna hurt it, it’s basically gonna be like pool water, those are the same chemicals they use in pools and Jacuzzi‘s. So I wouldn’t water your lawn with treated water all the time but if you’ve got to get rid of a tank and there are some dry spots on your lawn then it’ll be fine. Especially when you’re spraying it like that, chlorine dissipates very quickly. In fact if you put chlorine in it and left the lid off the tank in about 24 to 48 hours even at that volume it would be dissipated and there would be pretty much no chlorine left in that water. It’s something you would have to keep treating the tanks with, even sealed the chlorine will wear out after a while but if you’re not getting sun in there it will be more than enough and you don’t really need to worry about it. Another thing I had questions on was the pressure in those hoses. I’m wondering how the pump handles the pressure when you’re not using the water, if you have it turned off. I’m almost wondering if creating a bypass with a pressure valve that under high-pressure water pump the water back into the tank. If the pump is made to deal with it then it’s not a problem but I’m not sure how those work but sometimes having the pump running without the water flowing could be a problem, I know in electric pumps it is. I like the idea of doing a trailer and even having a second set up with a second pump. If one pump were to break at least should still have one and yes you were able to get two people out there with pumps on separate tanks dealing with a big fire that would be beneficial. Another thing you could do would be to put some bulkhead fittings on the top of the tanks for airflow and Plum multiple tanks together so if you put three of the totes on a trailer you wouldn’t have to stop and move the pump in one tote was empty, the water would be able to exchange between totes and the bulkhead fittings plumbing everything together on top would allow air to flow evenly through them so you don’t get a vacuum issue in any specific tank. That’s a pretty awesome project. And last week in one of your videos I think you were talking about drought conditions and food plots. If it got really bad it would be nice to be able to get out there and dump a little water on those plots or trees that need it in a really harsh drought condition. I think it will be awesome if you get animals out there as well. Running a hose all the way out to fill up water troughs can be a problem, especially if you’re going to rotate pastures which is how you control parasites without chemicals, then you could just use this to fill up water containers for the animals and it would give you a chance to run the equipment periodically and keep everything flowing in good condition. Motors don’t like to sit around without running every now and again. But there are so many uses for it and I think building a trailer with a four or even six nice fat turf tires on it would be awesome. That would keep the trailer floating so if your ground was wet or muddy you wouldn’t be leaving ruts in your yard. Water is pushing 10 pounds per gallon, I think it’s something like 8.6 or 8.9 but either way you’re looking at 7000 pounds of water for three totes, having that on a couple street size tires is it gonna leave some pretty hefty grooves on your turf, just building a fire trailer with some nice wide tires on it or even six tires would be pretty awesome. You should also check with your local fire department and see if they offer some kind of grant or financial assistance to help you build this stuff and you can become part of your local volunteer fire fighter group. 🤔 i’m sure it would it very least be a tax write off but they might have some kind of financial program where they would actually help pay for some of the equipment if you’re a volunteer fire fighter or they might even have equipment they could give you. 🤔

I am actually in the process of doing the same thing for our property in the Texas Hill Country. I have an old 16’ flatbed trailer I am mounting two totes on with the same pump, that way I can pull it with my tractor or truck all over the property.

I did a similar thing except mine has a 4 inch PTO driven pump and I used a lawn trailer to haul a 320 gallon poly tank and 200 FT of actual fire hose and nozzle I got from a fire fighter friend of mine. I run mine right off the PTO on my 4066 it will flat move the water . I do like the IBC concept with the portable pump .