Q. Honk: Why doesn’t the Orange County Fire Authority use ocean water to put out fires? They could fill up their tankers and fire engines with it. Even their helicopters and airplanes. Then rinse their tanks out when they get back to the station.
– Joe Frailey, Lake Forest
A. Sounds like a good way to help out with the drought, right Joe?
“Seawater puts out fire just as well as fresh water, and although seawater is tougher on pump equipment than fresh water, proper maintenance and flushing of the systems would limit their corrosive properties on our pumps,” Capt. Larry Kurtz of the Fire Authority told Honk in an email. “Firefighting boats already practice these techniques.
“If we used seawater for all inland fires, we would have to draw it out of the ocean, transport it by truck to a location, dump it into some kind of portable holding pool, and then draw it into our pumps for use on the fire.
“Fire engines carry 500 gallons of water on board,” the captain said. “This sounds like a lot, but when you consider that our typical fire nozzles put out 150 gallons of water per minute. …
“Orange County has an excellent fresh-water distribution grid that gives us access to a fire hydrant every 300 feet along most streets.
“As for using seawater for firefighting helicopters or ‘super scooper’ fixed-wing aircraft, the problem is safety,” Kurtz explained. “Our helicopters hover approximately three, four feet above the water’s surface to use its suction hose to draw up water.
“I’m sure you could imagine what could happen if an extra-large swell or rough wave suddenly struck the side of the aircraft. The lakes and reservoirs are much safer (and for most brush fires, a lot closer) than our Pacific Ocean.”
Q. Dear Honk: My question is about motorcycles and wine. The other night I went to a friend’s house for dinner with an unopened bottle of wine in my backpack. After dinner, my buddy insisted that I take the partially consumed bottle of wine with me. I jammed the cork back in the bottle and placed it in my backpack. With the cork returned to the original position, does this make the bottle no longer an open container? Could I technically be cited?
– John Robertson, Long Beach
A. Tom Joy, an officer and spokesman for the California Highway Patrol based in Westminster, wouldn’t cite you.
That’s because he figures there is no way you could get to the booze while tooling along. It would be like a driver putting an opened bottle of wine in a car’s trunk.
“It’s the spirit of the law,” Joy said.
Plus, the officer noted, unless he has probable cause, he can’t even take a peek into your backpack.
Honkin’ fact: At most intersections with traffic signals, the maximum wait is 90 to 120 seconds, said Mark Miller, Fullerton’s traffic engineer.
But on really wide streets in Southern California, it can get as long as three minutes – to give those on foot enough time to safely cross the road.
Contact the writer: honk@scng.com
