Cabazon, California – Mark Balling and a crew rose and lowered a hill in a tank truck while fighting a forest fire in Los Angeles County, fighting to get water from a street hydrants in time to stay ahead of the flames moving along a crest. A helicopter flew to release water, but had to fly a long distance to fill, and a fire that could have stopped destroyed the houses.
While fighting that fire from the early 2000s, says Balling, he saw a sealing water tank of one million gallons near that firefighters had no way to access. He thought it was ridiculous.
“We do not tell the fire trucks, ‘protect the city and go looking for its own water.’ We put fire hydrants every 600 feet around the cities,” said Whaling, who since then withdrew from the department of firefighters from the County. “But when it comes to helicopters, we don’t support them as robust as we should.”
Its frustration caused an idea: the heli-hydrant, a relatively small and open tank that can be filled quickly with water, allowing helicopters to be faster for urban fires instead of flying to lakes or sometimes distant ponds.
As forest fires become more frequent, Walling’s invention is attracting the attention of officials anxious to increase preparation. It was first used for the 2020 Blue Ridge fire in Yorba Linda, 10 heli-hydrants have been built throughout the southern California and 16 more are being carried out, according to whales.
Helicopters are essential for fire fighting. They can drop 1,000 gallons (approximately 3,785 liters) of water at the same time, some much more. That is much more than hoses than fire at the same time, and it can be the best way to attack the fires that are difficult to reach for earth equipment.
But pilots sometimes have to fly a long way to collect water, and in drought -prone areas, natural sources can sometimes dry or decrease so that they are difficult to extract. In Riverside County of Southern California, helicopters have had to fly up to 10 miles (approximately 16 kilometers) to find water, eating critical time for fighting fires.
In a remote plot in the city of Cabazon in southern California, the contractor Glenn Chávez stopped on a ladder and looked at an empty heli-duty. A radio in his hand, clicks on a button to activate the system and observed how water roared in the tank. In approximately six minutes, it was filled with 8,500 gallons (32,176 liters).
Chávez, a general contractor, was testing the last investment of the Cabazon Agua district, a second heli-hidrant with which local officials count to help protect the city. At $ 300,000, it cost a little less than the average price of a single house in Cabazon.
“Living in a beautiful desert community, it will have fire risks,” said Michael Pollack, general manager of the district. “And having these Heli-Hidrants is a great advantage. People will have a little comfort knowing that they have another tool to fight fires in their community.”
Pilots can remotely activate the tanks half a mile away, with the tank generally filling the water system of a city. Helicopters can fill less than a minute. Once it is activated, solar panels and backup batteries ensure that the system can still be used during energy cuts. And at night, the tank lights and a nearby tower guide the pilots towards him.
In November, firefighters responders in San Diego tested the product when the 48 -acres garden fire in Fallbrook, a community known for their avocado forests, caused evacuation orders and warnings. The helicopters took advantage of the tank almost 40 times.
The pilot Ben Brown said that his proximity to fire saved not only time but also fuel.
“They are great for when you don’t have other water sources,” he said. “The more immersion sites, especially in some of the most arid in the county, the better.”
Heli-Hidrants have expressed some concerns about their placement in urban areas where houses, buildings and electric lines can be obstacles to flying and could have to get into more strict spaces.
In those cases, firefighters can choose to fly more to a natural source that gives the helicopter more space, said Warren Voth, an attached pilot of the San Diego County Sheriff’s department. The goal of a pilot is always to face the wind while entering and leaves an area, for security, and need space to achieve it.
In some cases, municipal systems needed to fill heli-hydrants could get empty during important fires. Like him Palisades fire In Los Angeles he burned, three tanks of 1 million gallons that helped pressurize the city’s hydrants in Las Palisadas del Pacífico dried as the demand shot and the burns pipes leaked water.
Other times, helicopters simply cannot access them. When the winds are fierce, flying is almost impossible; The hurricane force winds that supercharged the Inferns of Los Angeles initially based fire aircraft. When multiple helicopters respond to large fires, not everyone can use the heli-hydrant. And smoke can make it difficult to see it.
Portable water tanks can achieve some of the things that Heli-Hidrants do, but may require time, people and equipment to establish.
The areas where forest vegetation crosses human development has always been vulnerable to fires, but more people live in them today, and climate change is creating conditions that can make these regions more dry and more flammable.
Jake Wiley has seen forest fires intensify his community. Two fires, in 2007 and 2017, collectively burned more than 400 structures in San Diego. The last one forced Wiley, now general manager of the Municipal District of Agua de Rainbow, to evacuate.
That fire also led local agencies to install a heli-hydrant, and when the garden fire exploded in November, he played an important role helping firefighters to protect the houses.
“It seems that when you’ve seen the worst, you haven’t done it yet,” Wiley said. “Anything we can help.”
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