Three firefighters were killed in Washington State when their vehicle got stuck on a narrow road and they were unable to escape. The fires were assumed to be caused by lightning strikes to dried vegetation in the vicinity of Lake Chelan, which is in a long valley between two mountain ridges. This area is about 100 miles from Seattle, where the Pacific Ocean intrudes into the coast to provide sheltered locations for evaporator rafts. I was still obsessed with the idea of distilling water vapor out of the ocean, and explained the idea to my grandson's fiancee. She had lived in the Seattle area and wondered how water vapor from Seattle could travel over the mountainous terrain between Seattle and Lake Chelan. I explained how water vapor could go just about anywhere, pushed up and down mountains by the wind, and spreading by diffusion. Then I realized that yup, that's exactly what it would do: spread out and be pushed every which way, with very little reaching the critical fire areas.
Instead, what we need to do is moor evaporator rafts at appropriate locations on Lake Chelan. High temperatures and low humidity during the wildfire season allow high evaporation rate, compared to the lower temperature and higher humidity at the ocean. A brief internet search shows several wineries at the southern end of the lake. Many recreation areas are advertized. These commercial interests should welcome evaporator rafts, which would increase humidity and reduce the incidence and severity of fires. I will try to promote the idea and will incorporate the appropriate parameter ranges in my performance calculations.
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