Millsboro Fire Company Conducts Rural Water Supply Drill

Saturday, October 25, 2025

On Saturday, October 25th, The Millsboro Fire Company, Station 83 along with ten other local
fire companies, conducted rural water supply training. Rural water supply is needed in rural
areas that do not have fire hydrants. In this case water can be supplied by filling fire department
tanker trucks and shuttling water from a water source to the fire. Shuttle tankers can carry
anywhere from 2000 gallons to 4000 gallons of water. On Saturday, pumpers drafted water out
of the Indian River at Cupola Park in Millsboro and tankers shuttled the water by tanker to Merck
Animal Health in Millsboro.

The drill simulated a need for a large volume of water to be supplied. The drill was attended by
50 firefighters from the 11 Fire Companies represented. The shuttle supplied well over 2,000
gallons per minute of flow for 2 hours. This shows that area fire departments can flow water for
a sustained amount of time in rural areas. Fire departments that participated included: Blades,
(71) Ellendale, (75) Frankford, (76) Georgetown, (77) Gumboro, (79) Indian River, (80)
Millsboro, (83) Millville, (84) Milton, (85) Slaughter Beach, (89) and Talbot County MD Station
80 in Queen Anne-Hillsboro. The officers of Millsboro Fire Company would like to thank each of
these departments as well as Millsboro Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary for providing meals and
Millsboro Fire Company Fire Police for directing traffic