You’d have to have a heck of a well and pump to actually pump enough water to fight a fire. If you needed to rely on a well for water to use in case of a fire, you’d have a water tower where you’d pump water somewhat slowly and store it. In areas where people are on well and septic (such as NJ) there was piped in water to supply the hydrants. Of course, there were some places that didn’t have the piping and didn’t have hydrants – it was more expensive to get insurance there. But then, the firefighters and EMS people were all volunteer and not intensively trained, so I don’t know whether the water was really the issue. . .

In terms of SDGE – you can’t have it both ways. Opposite courses of action cannot both be considered negligent. This sounds like a circumstance where there should be some sort of policy and then publicly funded insurance for whatever poor outcome arises (like vaccines).