Posted on 01/12/2025 5:08:12 PM PST by Paul R.
In this episode, Sal Mercogliano—a maritime historian at Campbell University (@campbelledu) and former merchant mariner — discusses the use of seawater and how it can be utilized to fight the wildfires in southern California.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
I can personally vouch that salt water is highly corrosive to metals. Following the flood, have replaced all appliances. Next up are the garage door sensors, which have disintegrated in 3 months.
Thanks for posting. This video cleared up some misinformation.
I think that's an urban legend. Carthage bounced back under Roman rule and at one time almost became the capital of the Roman Empire.
Maybe would have worked for that devastating fire in Hawaii a few years back.
Time to think out of the box!!
I don’t think fireboats could get close enough to be effective.
“California could have had water desalination plants, along with its dams and reservoirs. California has the least excuse of any state for not being prepared for a statewide forest fire”
Yes they could have and Coastal cities wanted them. The far left and powerful California Coastal Commision said hahahaha!
Not to spray directly. To pump.
Then don’t watch it.
And, of the land is charred by fire how much of an affect would salt really have? Is the land more valuable than people? I’m not sure these questions have been answered.
I didn’t. I see BS and trash promotion and know better. I am warning other FReepers. Mind your own business and stay out of mine!
I thought you were warning other Freepers on a FR thread. You made it my business by your words now and by your post. If you don’t want people in your business, as you say, don’t post on a public forum.
Bring it on! The diatribe was a waste of time.
Oh please. Bring on my business. I stop millions in taxes and prevent awful politicians from being elected. Educated yourself and know who I am. I stand for FReeper Values and what this site used to to mean. Buckhead and others have left because of people like you. Go play in your own sandbox.
I thought you were warning other Freepers on a FR thread. You made it my business by your words now and by your post. If you don’t want people in your business, as you say, don’t post on a public forum.
If you actually had an open mind, you’d have found out that Sal has quite a lot of experience with firefighting, he knows quite a lot about pumping systems, salt water and corrosion (fancy that), and he points out a crucial part of the LA infrastructure that has not been invested in.
Now, does he discuss the forestry in depth? No, because he’s not expert in that area. That doesn’t seem to stop most FReepers, though, nor should it. Nothing in the article suggests that you don’t do prevention first!
We have multiple failures on both the front and back end, here, and ALL should be exposed and discussed.
If you watched the vid you might actually learn something. The politics in it are minimal.
There are salt loving (tolerant) plants which can grow on shores or on salty soils (saltcedar and cabbage come to my mind).
And, Getting salt out of the soil is not rocket science, just flood the area with fresh water and sooner or later you will fix the problem. Farmers in Australia are farming on pretty salty soils, and somehow manage.
Romans ceremonially plowed over places like Jerusalem and threw some salt over it, but these places recovered pretty quickly, it was just for a show.
Salt water is corrosive, but heck, there are boats sitting in ocean for years.
In summary, they could and should use salt water in LA.
They are using it now, but somehow were not in the beginning. I heard rumors that they were needing permits?!?
Also, coastal plant life is very often more resistant to salt water, salt spray, and so on, than are some of our inland species.
BTW, my Dad was a lifelong Forestry Professor. He could talk all day on regrowth strategies! Fire prevention and woodland, grassland, etc., firefighting, too... :-)
Hey Paul,
I can produce an hour our two diatribe about my views and I guarantee that you will learn something. Are you going to waste your time and listen to the nuggets that i would present about our founding fathers or do you want to spend 19 minutes listening to someone about seawater? I don’t bore readers with ‘mu’ opinions, I present facts. How are those fires going? Seawater putting them out? Blah, Blah.
San Francisco has an auxiliary/emergency water supply system that draws salt water out of the bay. I think fireboats are used to pressurize that system. There’s no reason that the entire coastline shouldn’t have that sort of capability.
Plants can recover any soil you want back into fertile soil. Best thing ever. With judicious use, even the Saudi desert could probably be reclaimed by using the right plants, and thousands of years of patience. 🙂
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