Reviews

The following are two evaluations of the Uni-Engines performance on a fire and during testing:


July 28, 2007 During the first weeks of July myself and others of the Garden Valley Helitack and crews of the Boise National Forest could hardly believe what was happening. As fate would have it hainses of six high and dry lightning produced more than one hundred IA's overnight, and with little to no resources available nationally we knew we were in for a ride. As the resources of the Boise National Forest dwindled and the fire grew larger it became apparent that we could only call dispatch and wish for reinforcements because the crews were all out and helicopter time was at a premium.

I was the IC on a fire called the Basin Creek fire and it started out as two acres, but after an hour it was up to three. The ground fuels were not as much a factor as the spotting from the Sub Alpine Fir and because we were a long distance from a dip site buckets were becoming increasingly ineffective. The solution to the problem came in the form on the Uni-Engine or the "Klump Pump".

The problem with a conventional fold a tank is the logistics; find a level spot, set the pump up, wondering if all of the fittings arrived, fill the tank and hopefully start the pump. The spot that we had to put the tank would have been marginal for a fold a tank because of the uneven surface and tree stobs, not to mention that it would have taken hours to set up.

We received our Uni-Engine and had it filled in about one hour (about half of a fuel cycle) while it was being filled we laid out the hose and once it was filled started the pump and proceeded to spray water. The first tank of water was used for suppression and it worked, it bought us the time we needed to limb trees and line the spots, effectively stopping the spread of the fire.

The final size of the fire was estimated to be about three and a half acres, which by the way, worked out to be a little over and acre per person as there were only three of us on the fire.

Todd Sexton
Garden Valley Helitack
Boise National Forest

"I used the Uni-Engine to help control and mop up an initial attack fire in a remote portion of the Boise National Forest. The Uni-Engine worked great. It was just like having a Type-4 engine parked next to your fire. Refilling the Uni-Engine can be done in a timely manner with a light or medium helicopter and having the ability to put this water directly where you need it is a definite advantage over helicopter bucket drops. The unit was easy to use and worked perfectly. All posted instructions/directions were easy to understand. The plumbing on the tank was easy to follow and very similar to the model 52 engines that many firefighters have operated.

Gables North Fire: 2 1/2 acres in sub alpine fir (total of 12 spot fires)
Elevation: 7000'
Dates: 08/07-08/09 2006
Burning Index for Fuel Model G: 56
Energy Release Component: 82
One type-2 crew
One engine crew
Two helitack
Nearest road: 2 air miles to the east
Nearest water source: 1 1/2 air miles south"


Tom Schultz
Gables North IC
Engine Captain
Boise National Forest

Ron Chaplin-Pilot
PJ Helicopters
Total time in helicopters: 15,000(+) hours
USFS and CDF Carded Helicopter pilot since 1988


"As a reference for Jim Klump and his Uni-Engine, I was personally involved in the testing of the Uni-Engine by flying the machine with a UH-1 (Huey) on a 100 foot long line. At no time did the machine pose any in-flight, and, in fact, flew so smooth I hardly noticed it was on the line. I further participated in the testing by filling the machine using a 324 gallon Bambi bucket with no apparent problems. I did test drops with the Bambi full of water at various heights to test the toughness of the machine and it again passed with flying colors. Three years later, in September 2006, I had the opportunity to actually fly the machine on the Bar Fire near Weaverville, CA with both a UH-1H and a Bell 214 on 100 foot long line. The machine flew then as it did when I first tested it, very smoothly with no bucking or spinning in flight."