During the evening of Wednesday 6th October Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service brought 7 fire fighting appliances and 25 fire-fighters to Bangor Marina for a major training exercise.

The highlight of the evening was a demonstration of a high volume pumping unit. The H.V.P. unit consists of two demountable modules containing hose, a hose retrieval system and the Hydrosub. Three kilometres of hose can be rolled out directly from the unit with the deployment vehicle travelling up to speeds of 20 mph.
The Hydrosub consists of the submersible pump unit with a high flow impeller and flotation chamber. This unit was lowered into the sea for the demonstration. When operating at full capacity the Hydrosub can pump 7000 litres per minute. This surely is one impressive pump. This type of equipment is used primarily to supply a large volume of water to help fight fire; alternatively it can be used to pump out floodwater.

When the pump training exercise had finished, the hose retrieval system was put into operation with the hose being hauled and flaked back into the hose box ready for redeployment.

Upon completion of the night’s event the watch commander for Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service – Bangor Station thanked Quay Marinas Limited for their support and help in facilitating an excellent training exercise.