Critics say Los Angeles didn’t have enough water to fight devastating wildfires, but the truth is more complicated.
seawater is only used selectively because its salt content corrodes metal pumps and hydrants, lessens the cooling effects of the water, and wreaks havoc with the environment by increasing soil salinity, which can prevent plants and seeds from absorbing water
This lime from farther down in the article has come as new news to me during these current wildfires. It seems like California is simply a location that does not possess enough fresh water to combat fires of this magnitude. Not to say that there necessarily is anywhere else that would be able to fight/win against these fires.
From the interviews I’ve heard, and other statements, the fire hydrants are meant to be for individual house fires. Using multiple hydrants decreases the water pressure, and moreso when they are uphill.
I was able to talk with an engineer that managed the water supply for a large city that underwent a fairly substantial evacuation due to a wildlife.
It was really interesting because he was saying how he had to sleep in his office to be on call and able to manage things fast enough. They had to shut down the water supply to specific portions of the city so that all of the water was available to the high risk areas and basically just move the water around as the firefighters told him where the fire was moving to and which areas needed it most.
(Edit: just for clarification this was not for the LA fires this was for a fire years ago)
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