The blue circles represent the outputs of just 20 monitor placement PTU’s paired with pools here. At full operation they would’ve produced 32,000 gallons per minute with sizeable overlap. These PTU’s could’ve been operated remotely and cycled on shortly before the fire arrived to pre-soak the homes. If this line of protection would’ve been created, many of these homes likely could’ve been saved. So many more examples like this can be shown for the Tubbs Fire. Homes should not burn while pools sit full.
As with all wildfires, fire crews used all the possible assets for the best possible outcome during the Tubbs fire. No matter how many firetrucks you have, flow rates are still limited by the water main size feeding the hydrants. These hydrant networks are not designed to defend against massive wildfires. A typical neighborhood will be fed by a 6, 8, 10, or 12 inch main. The maximum flow rates will be capped at approximately 800, 1600, 3000, and 4700 GPM respectively. Again, the examples provided on this page are hypothetical but do show the massive potential of this new PTU solution. Throughout many of the areas of destruction from the Tubbs fire, it would’ve been possible to create flow rates of 10, 20, 50 and even 100+ times greater than local hydrant networks. Firefighters could’ve literally made it rain!