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As multiple wildfires burn in Southern California, including the Palisades Fire in Los AngelesAuthorities have taken the rare step of collecting water from the ocean to help fight the flames.
Salt water can damage equipment, infrastructure and wildlife, but sometimes firefighters need to use it anyway, according to Frank Papalia, a former New York City Fire Department lieutenant and fire safety expert at Global Security Group.
“When someone falls, gets hurt, possibly breaks their neck or something, you don’t move them. (But) if there’s a fire around them, or there’s chemicals around them and stuff, they’ll die. So you have to move them. , you have no choice,” he told Fox News Digital.
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A house is seen on fire as residents try to escape the scene in Pacific Palisades, California, on Tuesday. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The main way to use salt water to fight fires is to take it out of the ocean with a plane or helicopter and drop it from above, he said.
That is already being done in southern californiawhere large forest fires are out of control, as a video shows. But one plane has already been taken out of service after someone crashed a drone into its wing. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating and a spokesperson told Fox News Digital that interfering with firefighters is a federal crime punishable by up to a year in prison and a $75,000 fine.
Firefighters battle the Palisades Fire as it burns multiple structures in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
While salt water can damage infrastructure, kill wildlife and have other consequences, sometimes it is a necessary trade-off, Papalia said.
“In this case, your city is burning to the ground, so using salt water isn’t that bad,” he told Fox News Digital. “The problem is that they are limited to the number of planes that can fly at once, the distance they must travel and the amount of water they can hold. Yesterday you couldn’t fly because of the wind.”
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A Super Scooper aircraft drops water on the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades, California, on Tuesday. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Today’s fire hydrants do not use salt water for several reasons. They use the same pipes that supply drinking water to homes and businesses. They are not corrosion resistant. And the cost of installing a new saltwater hydrant system connected to ocean pumps “would be ridiculous,” Papalia said.
Fire hydrants also depend on pressure, which is lost with each fire hydrant open at the same time.
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But fire trucks themselves can use salt water: they just have to be close enough to receive it and require extensive cleaning afterwards.
“We have them at JFK,” Papalia said of the New York City airport. “We pumped water out of Jamaica Bay. If you’re going to do that on the beach, how are you going to get the fire truck into the sand?”
The Eaton Fire burns a vehicle in Altadena, California, on Wednesday. (Ethan Swope/AP)
At least 10 people have died in the fires across Southern California, according to authorities, and Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna said he expects the death toll to rise. More than 130,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes.
California Governor Gavin Newsom The office said the state was sending more than 7,500 firefighters and support staff to assist Los Angeles as the fires continue.
A firefighter battles flames from the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, on Wednesday. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Neighboring states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and New Mexico, have also sent firefighting crews.
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“There is no doubt that this will be one of the worst fires in the history of the world,” Papalia said.
