What is the purpose of a 'water supply plan' at the incident?

• A. To outline water sources, capacity, hose configurations, and pump pressures to sustain operations.
• B. To document the city water map
• C. To track crew rest periods during water operations
• D. To schedule hydrant testing and maintenance

Answer: (A)

The purpose of a water supply plan is to ensure a continuous, adequate water supply for firefighting by laying out where water will come from, how much is available, how hose lines will be arranged, and what pump pressures are required to keep the streams flowing. This plan helps the incident commander and crews coordinate sources (hydrants, drafting, or relay pumping), account for capacity and friction losses, and set discharge pressures so that the attack lines have sufficient flow without depleting the source or causing pressure drops. It guides on-scene decisions like establishing a primary water source, selecting pumping configurations, and adjusting as the scene evolves.

Other options don’t address on-scene water supply needs: a city water map is useful for pre-incident planning but not the at-scene plan; tracking crew rest periods and scheduling hydrant maintenance are important but belong to different aspects of operations and maintenance, not the live water supply strategy.