Local News
Burning questions: BYU professor, local fire chief examine role of public water in fighting wildfires
In the wake of devastating fires in Maui in 2023 and Los Angeles in 2024, Brigham Young University civil and construction engineering professor Rob Sowby sought to solve a pressing debate: What is the responsibility of public water systems when it comes to combating wildfires? His findings, which he published in a recent study, were that municipal water is inadequate to combat large-scale wildfires and that expectations otherwise are unrealistic. “Public water systems have limitations, and they should not be the only line of defense for fires of any kind,” Sowby said. City fire ...
