Can Salt Water Be Used to Extinguish a Fire?

Using seawater to stop a fire seems like a bad idea due to the effect of salinity on plants and equipment.

The Los Angeles fire at the heart of the news

The fire that hit Los Angeles last week continues to devastate dozens of hectares every day. American firefighters are doing everything possible to try to stop the progression of the fire. But the resource is becoming more and more depleted, and other ideas can be put forward, such as salt water for example.

It must be said that the United States is bordered by two oceans. To the east they are touched by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by the Gulf of Mexico. It would therefore be “simple” to recover the water. But salt water and conventional water have different properties, which can have harmful effects, whether for equipment or for trees.

Salt damages equipment

To better understand the effects of sea or ocean water, we must focus on its composition. You should know that this water is composed of 96.5% pure water, and it is the remaining 3.5%, which are dissolved salts and gases, which makes it different. There is in particular the presence of chlorine (Cl) and sodium (Na), which form “sodium chloride”, thus giving salinity to the water. CBS News indicates that this salinity can damage equipment, including firefighting aircraft, which are not designed to initially carry water.

Fire hydrants could also be impacted. Indeed, the latter are made of metal, which is likely to rust, even more so in the presence of salt, which accelerates the corrosion process. Concerning the Canadair, it is necessary that the body of water is relatively calm to allow the device to land there to fill its tank, which is easier to do on a lake than in the ocean, explains Stéphane Caron, prevention and communications coordinator at SOPFEU, during an interview given to The Press.

Salt water can be bad for plants

Beyond equipment, the question of nature also arises. Terrestrial vegetation is not used to seawater, which may not contain all the nutrients necessary for the growth and development of trees, for example. Patrick Megonigal, an ecosystem ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, told the outlet that the long-term effect of seawater on trees and soil is not yet fully understood.

He goes on to explain that the drought in Southern California, where the city of Los Angeles is located, allows salt to persist in the soil: “Our laboratory experiments suggest that salt causes the dispersal and movement of clay and other particles in the soil. Such changes in soil chemistry and structure can persist for many years.” A situation that some trees cannot tolerate.

The idea of ​​using sea water to stop fires therefore does not seem to be that advantageous. For the moment the question does not arise, Democrat Judy Chu, who represents the areas devastated by the Los Angeles forest fires, declared that there was “enough water” to continue fighting the fires.

Source: CBS News