Marking off another dry, blustery October, people who live in the hills in and near Yorba Linda might rest easier knowing firefighters now have a new weapon to use if — or when — the city's backyard burns again.
Authorities call it a "heli-hydrant." It's a water tank that is 12 feet wide, open to the sky and can serve as a remote water source for water-dropping helicopter pilots to use, and re-use, during a wildfire.
The container was completed Oct. 7 near Green Crest Drive, an area that burned in the Freeway Complex fire of 2008. While the new system is ready to use now, a planned unveiling on Wednesday, Oct. 30, was postponed due to fire danger.
As climate extremes — extended droughts, hot spells, parched hillsides — become Southern California's new normal, the threat of fire is becoming more routine and the art of firefighting is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Fire crews are already adding drones and live camera feeds to their suppression tool kits. And now, on the fire-prone northern border of Orange County, firefighting helicopter pilots can tap into a water system from the sky, without help from other firefighters on the ground.
In a wildfire scenario, a helicopter can hover over Yorba Linda's new heli-hydrant (officially known as a Remotely Activated Snorkel Site) and the pilot can turn it on with the push of a button. The switch sends a signal to the water system to fill the 2,700-gallon tank in three minutes — a rate that's faster than the helicopter's ability to slurp water into its own 500-gallon tank. Then, while the copter zooms away to douse advancing flames, the heli-hydrant can be re-filled back to capacity.
A "heli-hydrant" prototype fills up during a demonstration near Avenida De Santiago in Anaheim on June 11, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) The rig is connected to the local power grid, but it also has solar panels and underground batteries, so it can work if the power is shut off.
Local fire and water agencies began testing the heli-hydrant concept last year, leading to the new system in Yorba Linda. If it proves itself in a real fire, the idea could be used in other places where brush fires can threaten neighborhoods, said Marc Marcantonio, general manager for the Yorba Linda Water District and a proponent of the heli-hydrant.
Similar "dip tanks" already are used by fire agencies, but those tanks are mobile and are assembled after a fire is underway. Yorba Linda's tank is a permanent fixture that taps into the local water system and is controlled from the air, making it the first of its kind, Marcantonio said.
Fire officials noted that the new heli-hydrant — strategically placed in fire-prone hills — will make local aerial firefighting more efficient.
"It also eliminates the need for a (ground) crew and an engine to refill a helicopter," said Orange County Fire Authority spokeswoman Colleen Windsor.
The idea came from Mark Whaling, a retired Los Angeles County Fire Department battalion chief who now runs a firefighting equipment business.
Last year, fire agencies tested a smaller but similar tank in Anaheim Hills. The trial indicated that the concept could work, Marcantonio said, but tweaks needed to be made.
Marcantonio also noted that the idea doesn't have to be expensive. Yorba Linda's heli-hydrant cost about $50,000 to install, a figure that Marcantonio believes will be recouped the first time it's used in action.
While some other agencies might find the cost prohibitive, it should be feasible for most, he added.
"I hope to put two more in before too long. Our intent is to have at least three of these spread out along the border of Chino Hills State Park."
Marcantonio believes other agencies might be interested in heli-hydrants after the system is used in real-world fires near Yorba Linda.
"When they see it, they're going to hit their forehead with their hand and say, 'Why hasn't this been done before?'"
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