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as was said earlier front mount pumps are great to nose into the water supply and supply another engine in a relay or for filling tankers whether its 50' away from the water supply or the whole hose bed up to 1500'. this now can be acomplished with a mid mount pump with a front intake which is very common in this day and age. a front mount pump is/was desirable for drafting out of portable ponds whether it be one or by using a siphon for a two pond operation without tieing up the unloading areas of the ponds while it discharged up the lane suppling the attack engine. a mid mount with a front suction now replaces that set up with bigger pumps supplying the attack teams with more water when the water is avaiable. when front suctions first came about they were fixed usually flush mounted in the bumper. today they are mounted on top of the bumper with a 180 degree swivel. earlier pump ratings were less at the front then at the main side intakes because of the reduced size and plumbing of the pipe up and over the front axle. today that is not an issue because the trucks are bigger and higher which allows for a bigger pipe plumbed to the front. i still know of some nice size front mounts that are bolted onto the front of some GMC TOP KICK's.

pump and roll capabilities work best for field fires and huge wet down areas and are limited by the amount of water they carry. we had a 87 mack with a 1800 gal oval tank with a 750gpm american midship mounted tanker with pump and roll capabilities from a seperate pto. pump discharge was depended on the speed of the truck because the pump and truck was controlled by the same throttle.