It will still take weeks to put out the fires ravaging California, and while several fire hydrants in Los Angeles are already dry, some are wondering if it would not be possible to use another source nearby: l salt water of the Pacific.
Ocean water can indeed be used to fight fires, but it’s not necessarily the easiest avenue to achieve this, CBS News explained Monday.
First of all, you should know that salt water is corrosive, which means that it can damage certain equipment used to fight fires, including airplanes, hydrants or other tools made of metal. , according to the American media.
Although fresh water is likely to rust equipment, this corrosion process is greatly accelerated by salt water.
What’s more, even though ocean water appears to be close at hand, it’s not so easy to gather and pour on fires, CBS News continued.
Indeed, among the 60 aircraft in California, which has the largest civil aviation fleet in the world for fighting fires, only two of them would be able to collect water from the ocean, including one believed to have been damaged by an unauthorized drone on the premises last week.
-These air tankers, which can carry up to 14,000 pounds of water, are worth US$25 million, aviation management software company WinAir estimated according to CBS News.
Some firefighting aircraft are only built to transport and disperse flame retardants, that is, products that make objects nonflammable, such as flame retardants.
Finally, salt water is only used as a last resort due to its long-term effects on the environment, and in particular on the soil, which can greatly impact the local flora for many years. .
Fortunately, local fire agencies assured there was “enough water” to continue fighting these fires despite concerns about water pressure in the area, Democrat Judy Chu, who represents the devastated areas, according to CBS News.
“Many fire hydrants were working at the same time, and the electricity used to pump the water had been turned off so there were no more fire sparks. “That’s what happened at that time, but I think we’re in a good position right now,” she explained, according to the American media.
