Is there anything stopping me from an engineering standpoint installing a water tower on my property and making sprinklers around a radius of my home to drench the area in case of wildfire?
In: 83
Partially because water just isn’t that good of a fire prevention material, especially in comparison to its mass or accessibility.
Sure, it will absorb a bunch of heat and create steam that drives a bunch of O2 away (which are 2 of the 3 corners of a growing fire), but the amount of heat it absorbs is limited and the moment it becomes steam it leaves and stops helping.
Most wildfire prevention strategies are to ‘attack’ the third corner: clearing out easy to reach fuel. Even in situations where water *might* be used, it’s usually replaced by a water-carrying gel that prevents it from becoming steam as quickly.
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