mee_ouch: Farther north, they use water from the ocean and Lake Tahoe to fight fires (if it’s close enough of course). There are also a few rivers and (I’m not sure, but..) they might draw water from there – the Sacramento River, American River, San Joaquin River, and also the Sacramento Delta, Suisun Bay and a bit farther the San Francisco Bay. Around here we have small fires that pop up along side the freeways.. and they usually don’t last long because the fire department gets to the scene asap. When California was battling the 100+ fires the nearest one was in Fairfield/Napa which is about 30–40 miles away. That one burned for quite a bit until they got it contained. They might have had water restrictions closer to the fire, but none were implemented in the city I live in.