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Has anyone ever seen either airplanes or helicopters dropping water on buildings? From what I can tell when I see them dropping on wildfires, it's not an exact science. Water gets everywhere.You'd need to pull on the crews on the ground away from the fire. It's not realistic.
I've been on the ground on western wildfires in the past. The force of that water dropping is indeed large and would probably collapse a compromised structure. I've watched those drops knock some pretty big trees down. They're also not always as effective on a large fire as many may think. They might put a spot out but the surrounding area can overcome any effects of the drop if intense.
I don't know where the nearest helicopters are but I'm sure France has a few of them that could handle it. As for the water availability, there is a river 100' from the cathedral. The cathedral is also not in the middle of the city, it is surrounded on three sides by open area parks and plazas.
Do you think a sudden deluge of water would have a devastating impact on an already fragile structure (there were cracks appearing in the stonework, that is why they were having to do renovation work) that had to have buttresses constructed to hold up the incredible weight already there. It would be like constructing a tower of playing cards, and pouring a teakettle of water on top of the playing cards. What do you think happens?
Has anyone ever seen either airplanes or helicopters dropping water on buildings? From what I can tell when I see them dropping on wildfires, it's not an exact science. Water gets everywhere.You'd need to pull on the crews on the ground away from the fire. It's not realistic.
Planes yes but helicopters can be used with very tight control and drop limits, I guess I just assumed that this conversation was about using helicopters with bags, not planes.
Has anyone ever seen either airplanes or helicopters dropping water on buildings? From what I can tell when I see them dropping on wildfires, it's not an exact science. Water gets everywhere.You'd need to pull on the crews on the ground away from the fire. It's not realistic.
I didn’t say it was realistic, my point was that it wasn’t the absolutely insane option people here are making it out to be. By the way, French officials have just indicated that they may not be able to get the fire under control and that it will essentially have to burn itself out.
Interesting that someone calling themselves TheMoreYouKnow is saying firefighters should be fighting this from the air when actual firefighters are saying otherwise --
And in areas that are evacuated for miles around, not populated, urban areas with neighboring buildings that are *not* currently on fire.
Preventing the fire from spreading to surrounding structures would be my first reason for using air drops, the damn thing has already collapsed in on itself and it's very unlikely it'll be saved in any real way.
Planes yes but helicopters can be used with very tight control and drop limits, I guess I just assumed that this conversation was about using helicopters with bags, not planes.
The helicopter was then diverted to a fire on the third-floor balcony of a three-story condominium in the 1000 block of Everett Place where it made two water drops. Los Angeles City Department Assistant Chief Tim Ernst called it, “A quick knockdown”.
Like on houses that are already going to be burned to smithereens?
Sure, or large warehouses, or structures you can't access with trucks, or huge structures that are too tall to reach with ladders. There are tons of reasons why helicopters would be used to fight large fires.
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