| E-ONE have acquired the "Water Master" from Southern Fire Equipment |
E-ONE acquired the "Water Master - Vacuum Tanker" product line from Southern Fire Equipment in Hattiesburg, MS, on Tuesday.
The unique, self-filling vacuum tankers were developed by Reggie Ridgway, a volunteer Fire Chief who spent years researching and designing the Water Master tankers after his own frustrating experiences losing homes to fires in rural areas with limited water supply.
"The inadequate conventional tanker water shuttle that my department was using required too much equipment and too many firefighters," said Reggie Ridgway, Chief of the Central Lamar VFD and co-owner of Southern Fire Equipment, LLC. "I looked around for a better way, saw how industry was moving their water with efficient vacuum technology, designed a vacuum tanker to suit the needs of the Fire Service and the Water Master was born."
"Water Master" features a unique self-filling vacuum system which can load 3500 gallons of water in under 3 minutes and dump in under 2 minutes without the use of a Class A pump.
Water Master tankers can self-fill from up to three suction inlets using almost any alternative water source including ponds, rivers, lakes, ditches and swimming pools. Tank sizes are available from 2000 to 4000 gallons and are offered with a 460 cubic feet per minute vacuum pump as standard, allowing one operator to deliver more than 250 gallons per minute in a typical three mile shuttle.
"We are excited to add Water Master, ‘the ultimate water delivery machine,' to our full line of mission critical vehicles. Utilizing the Water Master technology, E-ONE can now provide fire departments with the ability to deliver water to the scene from any alternative water source with more than twice the efficiency of standard tankers," said Peter Guile, CEO of E-ONE.
"Water Master" demonstrations will be held outside the entrance to Lucas Oil Stadium during the 2009 Fire Department Instructors' Conference. There are currently approximately 300 Water Master vacuum tankers in service throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Reggie Ridgway, Richard O'Neal and Lance Chancellor will be joining the E-ONE team from Southern Fire Equipment, providing sales, service and training support of Water Master for the E-ONE dealer network and continuing support for Water Master's in service.
For more information visit www.thewatermaster.com.