The area in blue would’ve received the equivalent of ~ .25 inches of rain in just over 13 minutes. That’s 40,000 gallons per minute! No neighborhood hydrant system can come close to this level output. Is there any question that many of these homes could’ve been saved. There are so many other examples like this from the Camp fire.
As with all wildfires, fire crews used all the possible assets for the best possible outcome during the Camp 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 Camp 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!