Knowledge

Why don’t firemen use salt water instead of drinking water for extinguishing fire?

In addition to some of the excellent answers already given there’s:

  1. Saltwater would seriously contaminate the areas around the fire – I take it that you have never seen the aftermath of a suppressed fire, questioner, as there’s a LOT of water used in most cases and since it’s freshwater there are no efforts to remediate it. However if salt or brackish water is used the damage to the landscaping and surrounding structures, vehicles and equipment would be substantial.
  2. The environmental damage could be significant – Thousands or tens thousands of gallons could create serious ecological damage to an area that freshwater will not. In times past that might have been overlooked; however in today’s environmentally conscious and litigious society that could prove costly.
  3. There are far fewer fires overall – One of the reasons that city fire departments adopted emergency medical service programs (EMS) in 1970s was that overall fire safety training and things like smoke detectors cut down the number of fires that they could respond to. Most fire departments these days respond to medical calls, chemical spills, and vehicular accidents more so than fires making the costs of adopting a saltwater system too costly for a minimal need.
  4. Saltwater can be injurious to human beings – Firefighters are exposed to a number of toxins and pathogens on a daily basis. It’s difficult to see how their employers or their respective unions would look kindly at the added problems and costs of exposure to high pressure saltwater for years on end. Their insurers certainly wouldn’t appreciate it.

IF freshwater becomes scarce enough to make firefighting seriously have to change what they use to fight fires it seem more likely that they would look towards chemical suppression foams of some type or treated grey water as a replacement for potable drinking water.


Related Posts

What’s it like inside an aircraft carrier during a heavy storm?

During my time on a carrier, we went through a hurricane not once, but twice. We were in the Atlantic returning to our home port but first, we…

If the Soviets had decided to push the Allies out of Western Europe at the end of WW2, could they have done it?

Stalin asked Marshal Zhukov that very question in 1945. His answer: No. Westerns have a myth about the Red Army being this enormous inexhaustible machine that steamrolled its…

How long can an Ohio-class submarine stay submerged?

The Ohio-class nuclear submarine was designed for extended strategic deterrent patrols. Each submarine is assigned two complete crews, called the Blue crew and the Gold crew, each typically serving…

Why is the F-35 terribly flawed but the F-22 wasn’t?

The F-35 has been clubbing F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, like baby seals in recent exercises. And In Red Flag 17–1 when the F-35 was declared out of weapons, the…

How large can an aircraft carrier be made to accommodate as many aircraft as possible?

HMS Habakukk was planned to be 2000′ long, 300′ wide, and able to carry 200 planes including heavy bombers! While it was theoretically possible to build it, the…

Which US Navy jet was the most difficult or the easiest to land on the Aircraft Carrier?

Most difficult or worst? Almost certainly the Voight F7U Cutlass. 25% of the production run was lost to landing accident. Carrier Captains started ordering them off their ships…