This massive Southern California wildfire destroyed over 1600 structures and caused $6+ billion in damages. There were so many pools in this fires path of destruction. Let’s start by looking at the community of Point Dume within the city of Malibu. See the Google Satellite image below.
The red markers show where 80 exclusive homes were destroyed resulting in more than $250 million in damages. The blue markers show where over 100 large swimming pools sat along this path of destruction. Well over 2.5 million gallons of water was sitting right where it was needed.
If just 30 systems would’ve been available, it could’ve been a game changer. See the Google Satellite image below.
The overlapped blue circles represent the output of systems placed at just 30 of these swimming pools. They would produce a whopping 48,000 gallons per minute. No hydrant system or fleet of aircraft can come close to this level of output. Assuming these 30 large pools were drained covering the blue region, this would be the equivalent of approximately 0.25 inches of rain. For a different perspective this would be the same amount of water as 750 Sikorski Firehawk helicopter drops in just 15 minutes. That’s unreal! That’s using just 30 pools. There were over 100 large pools in just this region of destruction.
The same could be said for most of the homes destroyed in Malibu. See the Google satellite image below.
The red markers show where close to 400 homes were destroyed while the blue markers show where nearly 500 large swimming pools sat full. That’s over 10 million gallons of water spread all throughout these areas of destruction. If just 100 systems were deployed on the outer edges of Malibu, firefighters could’ve created a wall of water 4 miles wide by nearly ¼ mile deep at 160,000 gallons per minute. That would’ve been one heck of a fire break. Malibu is no stranger to destructive wildfires. The Old Topanga fire hit Malibu in 1993 and destroyed nearly 400 homes as well. Will there ever be a big destructive fire here again? If so, there’s more than enough pools to prevent mass destruction from happening again. Homes should not burn while pools sit full. Firefighters can literally have the ability to make it rain.