Dumping Seawater on LA Fires Is an Experiment Scientists Are Closely Watching

Science Alert ^ | January 14, 2025 | Patrick Megonigal

[V_TWIN]

If it’s not as toxic as burning asbestos in old homes and EV batteries I say go for it.

[Omnivore-Dan]

First priority. Put out the fire!

[IC Ken]

I remember the Romans sowed salt into the soil of enemies so nothing would grow there.

[DEPcom]

“If it’s not as toxic as burning asbestos in old homes and EV batteries I say go for it.”

Don’t forget all the melted solar panels, those are consider hazardous waste too.

[Deaf Smith]

“As the rate of sea-level rise accelerates…”

[lapsus calami]

 

 

So much for the protected Braunton’s Milkvetch plant - LoL! Double whammy of fire & herbicide. They'll have to come up with another botanical scam I suppose.

 

 

[Democrat = party of treason]

How much you want to bet that the environmentalist whackos sue them eventually for doing it...

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Saltwater corrodes firefighting equipment and may harm ecosystems, especially those like the chaparral shrublands around Los Angeles that aren't normally exposed to seawater. Gardeners know that small amounts of salt – added, say, as fertilizer – does not harm plants, but excessive salts can stress and kill plants.

Does salt harm plants more or less than incineration in fire?

[nitzy]

Using salt water has it’s risks but it also has ecological benefits.

By putting out the fires with salt water and saving LA, it could potentially save the newly endangered purple crested theythem. They have been catching a lot of flack lately.

[V_TWIN]

What a freakin’ mess. SMH

[Ken H]

“Bad for glass.”

[Verginius Rufus]

The story that the Romans sowed the site of Carthage with salt is false--it was begun in modern times by someone confusing the sack of Carthage with an incident in the Bible. No ancient source says that Rome sowed the site with salt.

Ocean water has been used to help put out forest fires. Some years ago they found a skeleton in a wet suit in a tree in a Northern California forest. He had the misfortune of being in the ocean when they scooped up water to fight the fire.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Why can’t they just get all of the water they need from the Los Angeles River? Last decade the EPA designated it as a navigable waterway.

[angry elephant]

Since California cannot control its forests and shrubs it would be better if they had less of them.

[woodbutcher1963]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwpMdRgel_4

Mulwray’s gardener:

“Salt water bad for glass”

Jake Gittes

“yeah sure, bad for glass”

[iontheball]

You have to view salt water as the absolute last option because it corrosively contaminates everything that’s not consumed by the fire and makes it essentially worthless, including the soil where rainfall is so low as to prevent dilution and percolation into the ground. Furthermore, most fire handling equipment is not resistant to salt corrosion. Electrical systems would be destroyed.

[jimtorr]

Sea-level rise has increased by an average of about 8 inches globally over the past century......

......and then there's this gem. I wonder if the writers of this piece can produce any evidence for this?

[DannyTN]

Seawater....It's got electrolytes.

No really, it does.

[Vermont Lt]

Salting the earth doesn’t seem to be a good plan.

Maybe the subsequent mudslides will work it further into the soil?