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The water used by fire fighters??

Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 2:21 pm
by Jared
Iv been wondering this for a while and i have a few pipie friends but i keep forgetting to ask them.

When the water bombers are dumping water onto fires why dont they use sea water? Im just wondering cause the 2 fires in January where helitacs were used they were filling their tanks with lake water. (Lake Richmond and a small man made lake in the Anchorage)

Why dont they use sea water? On the lake richmond fire the ocean is just as close to the fire as the small lake they were using to fill was...

Just wondering??? :roll:

Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 4:32 pm
by WPXZBP
Sea water contains salt, which is bad for the environment. It is also quite corrosive for the metal parts in the tanks and, not sure on this, may affect the performance of the foam/retardant that they use.

Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 5:09 pm
by Jared
I figured it was something to do with the salt.

Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 5:11 pm
by Jared
I figured it was something to do with the salt.

Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 7:17 pm
by Antt
plus salt water is flammable....



hehehe sorry thought it would be a novel excuse