In the wake of the devastating wildfires last January, authorities are taking steps to make sure they can knock the flames out quickly. One of the steps included installing another dip tank on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
A demonstration of the tank was held on Wednesday. L.A. County Assistant Fire Chief Brian Kane explained to KNX News’ Jon Baird how the process works.
“This tank here is directly piped into the reservoir system that actually supplies the reservoirs, but also the domestic supply to the residents here,” he said. “So it's a direct line directly into the tank for a constant fill, which can refill in four-and-a-half minutes.”
Kane said they have more than 20 of these dip tanks in Southern California.
“The second closest one to this one is in Rancho Palos Verdes, on the other side of the peninsula, which makes this one very strategic within its location because now we have two tanks on each side of the peninsula,” he said.
As for why officials don’t use ocean water, Kane said that the water is used in extreme emergencies.
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“Saltwater is very, very corrosive to the aircraft,” he said. “The aircraft has to go through a very lengthy decontamination process after the use of saltwater. Furthermore, saltwater is not good for the environment. So if we drop a lot of water, saltwater on hillsides and so forth, it could inhibit or kill plant life.”
The goal, Kane said, is to have a water source that is close enough for helicopters to do a load and return every three to five minutes.
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