Cabarrus Cheap Seats

I ran across this article in the Independent Tribune:

CONCORD - The fire truck’s ladder pierced the tree line at 70 feet. The nozzle is opened and shoots a stream of water at 1,000 gallons a minute stretching nearly 100 feet above the ground. The last time this nozzle was opened, something was on fire.

Firefighters from Concord’s Department of Fire and Life Safety drafted water from Lake Fisher on Thursday, and even though the water was shot directly back into the lake, it was a major feat. It was the first time in eight months Concord firefighters had used any water during training. [Emphasis mine]

…

But for the past eight months, Concord firefighters have trained dry, which meant the training varied greatly from real-life scenarios. A truck brimming with water and a fully-loaded hose is a completely different beast, Readling said.

Cabarrus County is still under extreme drought conditions, according to the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Committee. Cabarrus County entered extreme conditions in September, and since then all water training was put on hold.

More at the link above.

I know, we all need to do our part to conserve water, but this is just crazy. I don’t care what it takes, we need to figure some way to get the water available for firemen to practice. Drought or no drought, they need it.

Maybe we can sneak over to Lake Norman w/ a couple tanker trucks in the middle of the night and hope nobody notices.