Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
Exterior Fire Sprinklers Saved 188 Properties – Wet homes don’t burn
As renowned fire scientist Jack Cohen has said repeatedly, the wildland fire problem is a home ignition problem, not a wildfire control problem. Cohen has been trying to help fire agencies understand this since 1999. Unfortunately, they have shown little interest. We keep hoping with wildfire tragedies continuing to add up, attitudes will change.
But private citizens don’t have to wait.
There are a number of proven strategies and retrofits that can be implemented easily to homes and communities now. One is the installation of exterior fire sprinklers (our guide to sprinklers and other fire safety options for your home is available here).
The story of the resistance to exterior fire sprinklers illuminates a crippling dichotomy between the structural fire protection and wildland fire communities. But first, the good news. Exterior fire sprinklers systems work, are affordable, and can be easily installed.
The Sprinklers Can Save Homes
The effectiveness of exterior fire sprinklers was proven during the 2007 wind-driven Ham Lake Fire in Cook County, Minnesota. In 2001, exterior sprinklers had been installed on 188 properties, including homes and a number of resorts. All 188 properties survived. More than 100 neighboring properties were destroyed.
It’s Affordable
The cost of the Cook County program was covered by a FEMA hazard mitigation grant. The program was finished on time and on budget by Wildfire Protection Systems (WPS), costing $764,255. Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar credited the program with saving over $42 million in property value. The grant paid 75% of the cost of the sprinklers. Individual property owners covered the balance. With a ready water source, a sprinkler system installation from WPS for an average home can cost between $10,000 to $15,000.
The sprinklers were so successful that a $3 million FEMA pre-disaster mitigation grant was awarded in 2008 to install additional wildfire sprinkler systems throughout Cook County. In 2013, another grant was awarded to install the systems in two additional counties, including properties with low-water resources. FEMA pre-disaster grants have also been used in Big Bear and Idyllwild, California to retrofit homes with non-flammable roofing and ember-resistant attic vents.
Canadians have successfully utilized exterior sprinklers too, with the implementation of portable sprinkler kits placed in the path of wildfires. The kits can tap into nearby water sources, pools, or local water tanks. These kits have protected over $2 billion in property value over the past 20 years in Canada, according to Morris Douglas, a retired advisor to various Ministries of Natural Resources.
Exterior sprinklers work by creating an environment that extinguishes embers (spotting firebrands) that are the primary cause of building ignition. The sprinklers do this by 1) hydrating potential fuels, thus making them less susceptible to ignition, 2) increasing humidity, and 3) creating a cooler microclimate around the home.
Scoffs!
When we have suggested exterior fire sprinklers as an innovative way to protect homes from wildfires in California, we’ve typically encountered scoffs. The common reasons given for rejecting the idea:
– Too expensive (guesses as high as $60,000 have been mentioned).
– Wind will blow the water away from the house.
– Water pressure disappears during catastrophic fire events, disabling sprinklers.
– The power goes off during catastrophic events, disabling water pumps.
– People won’t have time to turn the sprinklers on.
All of these doubts are either incorrect or can be easily addressed.
Affordable. As mentioned above, grants can be obtained that can reduce the cost of a professionally installed system for an individual homeowner with a ready source of water to around $3,000. Without a grant, homeowners can install the systems themselves for considerably less than the professional price. There are also simple, inexpensive systems like the one produced by the Canadian company WASP. We demonstrate this easy to install system in the video below.
Wind. Yes, strong winds will deflect the water spray. However, despite 20-25 mph wind gusts during the Ham Lake Fire, the installed sprinkler systems worked well. Inspections during the fire found that although the rooftop sprinklers were the least effective when impacted by wind, other placements performed as expected. Some innovative solutions, such as WEEDS (see below) actually use wind to distribute the water.
Independent Systems. During a catastrophic fire event, critical infrastructure often collapses. Electrical power goes out and water pressure drops. This is why an exterior fire sprinkler system needs to be independent, or off the grid. A propane, gas, or diesel water pump (about $1,000) must be connected to a dependable water source (e.g. pool, 10,000 gallon water tank, or lake as is the case in Cook County). A 10,000 gal water tank costs about $6,000, so that adds to the system’s total price, but considering the cost of losing a home it’s a smart investment. A neighborhood could invest in a larger water tank that could serve a number of homes.
Time. When people are awakened in the middle of the night and see smoke everywhere, panic can set in. It’s difficult enough to evacuate, much less run outside and turn on the sprinklers. Unless the system is automated or can be activated by a switch on the way out (this adds to the cost), time is definitely an issue. However, it is not an excuse to dismiss the possibility of using exterior sprinklers.
Extra time can be found if communities can get their emergency alert systems up to speed, and trained CERT volunteers serve as support personnel (they do not evacuate). These fire volunteers can activate the systems, extinguish ember-caused spot fires, and help those who are stranded. During wind-driven, catastrophic wildfires there will never be enough professional emergency personnel available to do the job. Communities should consider picking up the slack.
Protecting their own Neighborhood
The effectiveness of expanding the ranks of emergency fire personnel with volunteers was demonstrated by Jeff and Cathy Moore in Chico during the Camp Fire. They stayed behind and were able to save their home and others around them. They doused surrounding vegetation and extinguished spot fires throughout their neighborhood. Their home also had exterior sprinklers. It definitely helped that they also had proper defensible space, but embers move right on through. In fact, open space just makes it easier for embers to reach the house.
Being a fire volunteer and staying behind when the evacuation call goes out is not a casual decision. Being confronted with the power, the noise, the smoke, and the swirling embers of a wildland fire can instill panic in the most seasoned wildland firefighter. This is why only those who are specially trained should stay behind to defend a community.
Stories Abound
Many other residents have taken it upon themselves to retrofit their own homes with exterior sprinkler systems. Under-eave misters on the Conniry/Beasley home played a critical role in allowing the structure to survive the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego County. The home was located in a canyon where many homes and lives were lost to the flames. You can read their story here.
There are a number of other options becoming available as well. M-Bar Technologies offers an objective analysis of one approach that uses the wind to help distribute the water spray, the Wind-Enabled Ember Dousing System (WEEDS). The system is credited with saving another home threatened by the 2003 Cedar Fire.
Wildfire Protection Systems has begun installing exterior sprinkler systems in Payson, Arizona and Mill Valley, California.
Why so resistant?
Over the last few decades, two firefighting traditions have collided with the expansion of homes into the wildland urban interface (the WUI). The result has been a severe case of cognitive dissonance over how to deal with the fire threat.
Municipal fire departments were originally organized to deal with structural fires, but their primary job often becomes saving lives. This is one reason why interior fire sprinklers have become a required part of public buildings. Interior sprinklers have been life savers, for both firefighters and civilians, in burning structures – they provide the environment and the time needed for people to escape. They are not, however, generally designed to save structures, especially considering the damage caused by the water.
The primary goal of wildland firefighters, on the other hand, is to suppress wildfires fueled by vegetation.
As increasing numbers of developments have pushed into wildlands, creating the infamous wildland urban interface, the response of fire agencies has depended upon their particular traditions and experiences. Wildfire agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and Cal Fire see the problem as one of too much vegetation. Consequently, they push for additional habitat clearance operations, fuel breaks, and prescribed burns. Municipal fire departments have focused on improving building codes (e.g. non-flammable roofing, ember-resistant vents) and more recently, defensible space.
However, as the increasing number of fatalities and destroyed communities from wildfires demonstrates, these measures are proving inadequate. The issue is that the physics of ember movement and the actual cause of homes igniting (by embers) has yet to be fully integrated into how fire agencies approach the wildfire problem, or as Cohen says, the home ignition problem.
Ironically, even though it is becoming well known that embers ignite and ultimately lead to the destruction of communities a mile or more ahead of the fire front (despite defensible space, fuel breaks, and habitat clearance projects), wildfire agencies and politicians keep focusing on the big flames produced by wildland trees and shrubs. The old municipal/wildland firefighting paradigms have become blinding. The failure to see the real problem is an example of how cognitive dissonance can have disastrous consequences. We have worked for over twenty years to convince Cal Fire, the governor, and the state legislature to focus on what matters, homes, rather than clearing habitat.Thus far they have refused. Consequently, we have turned to the courts. You can read about our efforts here.
How can we keep embers at bay? Current firefighting paradigms need to be replaced with ones based on how the expanding wildland urban interface and a warming climate are changing the environment. Only then will the scoffing over exterior sprinklers end and public policy begin to properly address the home ignition problem.
For a full set of recommendations on how to improve the fire safety of your home and community, please see our page on Protecting Your Home. Also please see our full set of recommendations to policy makers on how to reduce wildfire losses in California.
The video below, which is also available on our website page, does an excellent job explaining how to effectively protect our communities and homes from wildfire ignitions.
I tried to contact M-bar Technologies last spring, but received no reply. I then emailed someone on a local fire council in Kensington, CA (part of San Diego). I haven’t heard back from her since the first reply. I would like to install sprinklers but have no idea who does that in the San Diego area. Do you have any contacts?
Thanks.
Hi Karen. We have a document now that provides details concerning exterior fire sprinklers. It is called, “From the House Outward…” and can be downloaded from our Protecting Your Home page here:
https://californiachaparral.org/fire/protecting-your-home/
We at Evergreen Construction Inc provide installation of the WaveGUARD Exterior wildfire defense systems. The system is unique over any other wildfire defense system in the country. WaveGUARD patented exterior wild fire defense system allows your home, business or property to dispense water and fire retardant two sprinkler heads at one time, creating a wave of water to protect and defend it.
Please visit the WaveGUARD website at
https://waveguardco.com/
Be sure to watch videos on the website
I’ve read all this information before. As I am 65 and my husband 72, I am afraid DIY is beyond our capabilities. We are in the process of designing a pool to use for recreation and as a future water source for a sprinkler/eave system. Hopefully someone will start building such systems before we have another devastating fire.
Yes, my system is more of an area system but will be available where ever you need it. The system will be completely self contained. You could pull water from a pool or add a tank. I am trying to finalize some legal paperwork. Hoping to have the prototype done next month. Once the paperwork is done I can take deposits on systems. Since we are located in Northern California, a system in San Diego wouldn’t be a problem. It could also be customized to you specific needs.
On Fri, Sep 27, 2019, 4:14 PM The California Chaparral Institute Blog wrote:
> Karen Berk commented: “I’ve read all this information before. As I am 65 > and my husband 72, I am afraid DIY is beyond our capabilities. We are in > the process of designing a pool to use for recreation and as a future water > source for a sprinkler/eave system. Hopefully someone w” >
Brushfire Battle Systems has exactly what you need. A variety of water cannon options using swimming pool water. Capable of covering a football field area in a downpour of water.
https://brushfirebattlesystems.com/
There is one Karen, its a smart system that covers eaves as well as other areas.
Hi, the link to document is not working. Would love to read it.
Cheers!
http://www.Hydro-Halo.com
Hi Karen, all. Here’s our most recent, updated document with all the contacts we know. Go to the our page linked below, scroll down a bit and you’ll find in a green outlined box: From the House Outward.
https://californiachaparral.org/fire/protecting-your-home/
Rick, I have several University studies that show the results of outside water dispersion systems designed to help protect your property from wildfires and I can forward them to you if you like.
About Firestad Systems: Firestad’s “LFSPS” is a very high-quality powder coated stainless steel external water dispersion system (fire protection system) that integrates an innovative approach to fight wildfires for property owners to protect their real estate from catching fire.
Firestad™ is the smartest smart-link Fire Safety Protection System “LFSPS” on the market. It is a new and innovative fire protection system designed to help protect homes, small buildings, and landscapes from fire radiation and ember attacks during wildfires. It is operable manually or can be set-up automatically through a smart water control system. It is Alexa, and Apple home-kit compatible with hyper-local weather intelligence plus rain, freeze, and wind-skip features. Works with Google Assistant, Nest, IFTTT, Wink, Control4, Nexia, and others, making it agnostic to most systems. Once integrated with the proper API it can send alerts to your smart device.
When a wildfire is either reported or spotted, the Firestad™ Fire Safety Protection System can be activated manually or automatically. You can be anywhere in the World and if you have an internet connection you can manually activate it from your smart device (i.e., iPhone, Samsung, iPad, tablet, computer, etc.). It can be set up for alerts and work automatically via news alerts, and more. .
The Firestad system is placed under your eaves, wraps around the entire structure, and is positioned on your roof if vulnerable. The specially designed spigots are currently in the patent stage (patents pending). The Firestad spigots are designed to work in high winds, unlike off-the-shelf sprinklers, which are dramatically affected by high winds, causing them to frequently fail during firestorms. Designing the spigots to work in high winds was not an easy feat and that’s why it took 3 years of trial and error to perfect. . The Firestad system normally delivers between 13 to 15 gal per minute or more depending on the water pressure thoroughly drenching your home in as little as10 minutes, which helps sustain water. A fire hose delivers approximately 140 gals per minute and its usually too late if you need a fire truck. Firestad is like having your own personal private fire-fighting team that is onsite 24/7, just like the private fire fighter’s billionaires sometimes hire to protect their homes.
Additionally, we can design an external landscape water dispersion system with zones that surround your property as extra precautionary fire-resistant measures. We can clear and renovate your landscaping and change out and add fire resistant plants and ground covers that are somewhat fire resistant, plus add concentric perimeter zone(s) that circle the property adding another layer(s) of protection if desired. (3 zones at 30’, 60’, 90’)
The system can run indefinitely with electricity and water availability. For areas that lose their electricity and or water, or water pressure, a backup generator, solar adaptor for solar, and backup high-pressure water pump can be integrated into the system. Firestad has an additional back-up system that will activate your system should the electricity go down through cell towers if needed.
Ultimately, a swimming pool with the proper adaptors can be used as a water supply backup system. Another possibility would be to install a cistern, water tank or bladder as a water supply backup as well. The swimming pool, cistern, bladder, and water tank can easily be integrated into the smart system to further secure your property to keep it from burning down, although without your regular water source, it would shorten the running time of your system based on the gallons of water available and fuel capacity (gallons) for the generator. You only need about 6 to 8 hrs. of backup water according to the NFPA (national fire protection association) during a fire to dampen an ember attack from a nearby wildfire and if designed properly you could easily cover that time span. A standard sized pool is approximately 18,000 gallon, therefore, that would give you a little over 20 hrs. of water drawing 14 gal per minute, or 840 gals per hour. You would gain a few more hours if you’re able to refill the pool as your drawing from it.
Although spraying down your property with water is not new, using off the shelf sprinklers and or standing on your roof with a hose is certainly dated, dangerous, and off-the-shelf sprinklers do not work very well in high winds that are created from firestorms. The Firestad team realized how dated and dangerous standing on a roof or on your property can be with a fire raging towards you and created a system that can be automated, wind resistant, and or manually turned on remotely, creating your own firefighting mechanism without putting you and your family in danger.
Hi Ron. Thanks for this. Yes, please forward the studies. You can send them to us at nature@californiachaparral.org
The link isn’t working.
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Hi Craig. Sorry for the hassle. Let’s try this. Go to the linked page below, scroll down a bit and you’ll see in a green outlined box the document you are looking for: From the House Outward.
https://californiachaparral.org/fire/protecting-your-home/
I’m all for this even though I don’t think it would have saved any homes in Paradise. I had sprinklers on my roof and running in my yard. When I left my house was dripping wet but was still incinerated. The two houses closest to me did had no suppression and survived untouched. When I rebuild I will have a better system God forbid this happens again. I will also stay to fight it next time with my own water supply. I’ve also said since the 2008 fire that the town should have had industrial spinklers on the the tree tops drawing from lake oroville in a time like this. People just rolled their eyes at me.
Thank you James. Yes, fire is indeed capricious. It exploits the weakest link. We’ve faced the same eye rolling with our proposals as well. Meanwhile the same policies keep failing.
Very sorry you lost your home.
We at Evergreen Construction Inc. provide installation of the WaveGUARD Exterior Wildfire Defense System. The system is unique over any other wildfire defense system in the country. Wave guard patented exterior wild fire defense system allows your home, business or property to dispense water and fire retardant to sprinkler heads at one time creating a wave of water to protect and defend it.
Please visit the WaveGUARD website at http://www.waveguardco.com, be sure to watch the videos on the webpage.
Jill Suttle
Jill@egconstructioninc.com
P: 916-230-1407
I am so very sorry you lost your home.
We at Evergreen Construction Inc. provide installation of the WaveGUARD Exterior Wildfire Defense System. The system is unique over any other wildfire defense system in the country. Wave guard patented exterior wild fire defense system allows your home, business or property to dispense water and fire retardant to sprinkler heads at one time creating a wave of water to protect and defend it.
Please visit the WaveGUARD website at http://www.waveguardco.com, be sure to watch the videos on the webpage.
Jill Suttle
Jill@egconstructioninc.com
P: 916-230-1407
Please see my website http://www.fightwildfires.com
I will soon have spray hose systems to sell. I will sell you one at a steep discount to get some publicity.
Thanks! We’ll check it out.
I’m also from Paradise- I’m pretty sure our rainbirds helped save our home but I feel you James, its really irritating to hear anyone say “your home can survive a wildfire”. There is no such guarantee, particularly once nearby structure fires are part of the equation.
Ours was a very half-assed system- 2 rainbirds, one on each side of our 1970s California rambler. We happened to be home- actually spotting a neighbors house on fire before we knew the town was fucked, like others, not receiving timely notification to GTFO.
We had an evac list, my husband banged on the neighbors doors- some of them still asleep- and turned on the rainbirds while I got the pets in the car. We were out in a flash.
I don’t kid myself that it was exclusively the sprinklers.
I know many with sprinklers lost their homes. THERE WAS A LOT OF LUCK INVOLVED. A fire like Paradise will allow NO GUARANTEED SURVIVING HOMES- post fire, we’d see all concrete homes, shells still standing- burned out from inside. You have a single window, you have a weak point for a fire like the one we lived through.
Hell on earth. All you can do is slightly improve your odds. I think everything we did- the materials, the landscaping, and the rainbirds- may have improved our chance of surviving home like 20%. Still not great odds when only 1,400 homes survive and 19,000 burn- most people who did what we did still got screwed.
I think the rainbirds, along with fire-resistant materials and landscaping simply improved our odds just a little, and luck took care of the rest.
Only 2 homes on our cul-de-sac survived, all my direct neighbors homes burned. Our windows cracked from the heat of a neighbors burning home, but did not blow out enough to let embers in or provide a backdraft of oxygen.
We had scorch marks on every single external wall, but stucco doesn’t want to take. Thankfully our former shake roof had been replaced with fire-resistant fiberglass/asphalt. All the tar melted out it was so damn hot, we had to replace the roof and deal with water damage since we couldn’t get in for so long after the fire. Our roof had ember pitting and damage where fire tried to take- but the rainbirds kept any from really taking off. Our gutters, despite our best efforts did have pine needles in them- it was Paradise in November, 2 seconds after you cleaned them there were more. They didn’t take, because they were soaked.
Almost everything inside was smoke damaged despite the windows staying in tact, and we had to throw away more than half of what we owned, but at least we could salvage some memories.
It took more than a year and over 100k to fix the damage to our home with a sprinkler, that “survived” and actually on a casual glance, didn’t look too bad when we first got a look at it. It was our second full time job- restoring the house, fighting with insurance that doesn’t think they owe you a damn thing because it “survived”- trying to find anyone who would work on it- mostly they didn’t want to, and we worked with a lot of handymen & felons instead of professional contractors, because the contractors were happy to focus on new builds.
People frequently ask if it would have been better had it just burned, honestly I can’t answer that question. We got irreplaceable things back, but restoration may have sucked years out of my life.
There is no easy way to survive what we did… but I am installing rainbirds on the roof of my new home.
Despite expecting to move back, we sold the one we restored a couple weeks ago. Too much trauma, when I looked at its beautiful newness, all I had was bad memories of what it took to get there. Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
Thank you Pamela for sharing this. Your experience will help others. And you are right, there are certainly no guarantees… only things you can do to reduce the risk.
Pamela, I am glad your house survived and even though you are struggling with insurance and smoke damage, I hope it is worth it, considering. I do believe that rooftop sprinklers are useful when part of a “holistic” approach. In other words: it can’t hurt. Good luck!
Sorry for your loss. That must be a real challenge. I watched with horror from Oakland as your community was burned. I also enjoyed the This Old House series as they monitored the rebuild.
We had the Oakland Hills firestorm and still build it ways that will feed a fire.
Were i in your position, I would be building to passive home standards, net zero utilities, AND double fiber cement siding with rain screen space, metal roofing, no venting to keep those embers out! Drop me a note if you want to talk about details I have picked up over the years.
PMH
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This is Jack Cohen. I have written and presented that the first step for a more effective approach to preventing wildland-urban (WU) fire disasters during extreme wildfire conditions is to define the occurrence as a home ignition problem rather than one of controlling extreme wildfires. However, as may be implied by the blog, I DO NOT endorse sprinkler systems or any active response mechanisms as a substitute for homeowners creating ignition resistant homes. The concerns (“scoffs”) regarding sprinkler system effectiveness glibly dismissed are real and require serious analysis given the southern California WU fire context.
The Ham Lake Fire case is not appropriate for southern California conditions.
The Ham Lake Fire burned in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area-Gun Flint region of northern Minnesota. Sprinkler systems for wildfire containment (not just home protection) are a standard tactic in northern Minnesota and Ontario, Canada due to the abundance of lakes and a considerably different context than densely populated southern California during extreme wildfire conditions.
Jack, sorry we didn’t see your comment when you originally posted it.
By no means did we mean to imply you are endorsing the use of exterior sprinklers. We concur that making homes themselves ignition resistant through ember resistant vents, etc. However, as you said yourself in the video linked below, sprinklers can provide an added level of protection. We need to utilize as many options as possible.
At the 10:42 mark in the video:
“… because people, if they have the water supply, in fact can put their sprinklers on, wet things down, which definitely inhibits the firebrands, the flying embers that can potentially ignite this (vegetation)… putting the sprinklers out, it just guaranteed that anything like this that might have been fuel ends up being wetted, such that it’s no longer fuel.”
https://youtu.be/gW4ojYJtGbA
Dr. Cohen’s point is well taken and I for one, have followed his videos/advice to the letter in far-northern California; it has been so helpful. I think part of the problem is one of understanding fire conditions when they are at their worst: high winds and hot weather and w/o resources. It may seem obvious to some, but when considering potential scenarios it can outstretch the imagination of most people who have not witnessed such an event first hand, especially while looking at their home/property on a windless and blue-sky day and have never fought a wildfire personally.
I do understand the desire and vision of someone attempting to rely on an automatic/manual sprinkler system to wet their house, but I fear that is unrealistic under most circumstances as the water could evaporate or be wind-blown. I have a sprinkler system to wet a wooden fence/photenia area in advance because of heavy fuels so I can direct my attention to other areas of concern, but that is only to slow the fire down, not extinguish it.
I don’t mean to disparage sprinkler systems, but they are not the total answer imo, but a tool to buy time. If in doubt, take a drip torch and lite some leaves on fire and watch the creep on a windy day. Hopefully, you will have eliminated the ladder fuels that will ignite upper structure fuels.
In the end, it is a holistic approach to buy time and hopefully you have an escape route and proper clothing/breathing apparatus to defend. It’s all good, but doubt a total solution in any event. Just my take and maybe wrong. Hope so.
We concur John, regarding a holistic approach. Nothing by itself is as effective as multiple solutions. We have never suggested otherwise. The problem, in regards to this discussion, is that sprinklers are often dismissed out of hand or misunderstood (they need to be on independent systems, they are not the total solution, etc.). It is almost a compulsion for some.
As Jack suggested, the Ham Fire example was not in California, so the application is different. But what needs to be acknowledged, by Jack and others, is that exterior sprinklers can help. Jack said that himself. Indeed, they appear to have saved numerous structures during the Woolsey Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains, including the Malibu Creek Visitor Center. It’s OK to recognize that and still help people understand that protecting a home requires a multi-pronged strategy. We are not sure why there is so much resistance to adding exterior sprinklers to the mix.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that. I think your system has value and I wouldn’t say otherwise. I guess the implication was that somehow, it was a total system considering this discussion. Apparently that is not the case. I stand corrected, but I wonder how that got started?
Hi John. Actually, I was more replying to the whole discussion, not so much what you were saying. You had some thoughtful comments.
Honestly, whenever I bring up exterior sprinklers during presentations or posts, there’s usually someone who gets extremely emotion about the topic, engaging in condescending, accusatory arguments against them. Sign of the times maybe, but I’ve got to feel something deeply personal is being triggered. Maybe they lost their home to a fire and see our suggestion as some kind of judgement on them (if you’d only had exterior sprinklers…). Or it challenges their own paradigm. They speak in absolute terms and can not recognize that these systems might have value as part of the whole. I may have contributed to this here with the headline, since many people don’t read, just react to headlines. Jack seemed to take offense to our term “scoffs.”
Anyway, this is why we’re focusing our communication efforts in places like this and have left social media for the most part, especially Facebook. So wish the polarization social media has played a major role in creating would heal.
I get it and I don,t do FB. I wish you all the best luck because I know what you are doing is important. I think what you do works and is important. Good luck my friend.
Thanks John.
John: I thank you for noting this is a holistic or system approach to protection. All the parts have to work in conjunction with each other to optimize the benefits.
Dr. Cohen,
You speak the truth, as always, and I can understand why you can’t endorse “. . . sprinkler systems or any active response mechanisms as a substitute for homeowners creating ignition resistant homes.”
When I put together a group (or “task force”) of fire agencies during or shortly after the Kitchen Creek Fire of 1970 (San Diego County, CA), my literature research (greatly assisted by the Governmental Reference Library) turned up an article about an Australian out-back rancher who had built is own INDEPENDENT, on-site, AUTOMATIC (no personnel needed) fire suppression system controlled by thermocouples. He had a 6,000 gallon storage tank; I have a bit less (5,500) under construction, but I live in the city, next to a fire hydrant, but I’m in a spot vulnerable to ember storms and nearby structure fires. If I were in the outback, I would have at least 10,000 gallons of storage.
A friend of mine built a home to beyond all ignition-resistant standards, but lost it in Cedar Fire of 2003. A bathroom window had “blown” outward. I believe that some structures, especially those which would be impossible to bring up to ignition-resistant standards, could benefit greatly from such an on-site fire-suppression system. The system could serve as emergency water supplies for other events. In the Normal Heights Fire (1985), a USFS rig hooked up to a fire hydrant and got a few drops out of their nozzle for their trouble (later, the City manifolded another 8″ main to the existing), and several houses far from the canyon edge burned from the ember storm (piles up like a snowdrift). Of course, sprinkler systems (we need water emitters that don’t spray in a way that wind can blow so much. Integrated foam system?
The Task Force Report on Fire Hazard Reduction and Open Space Management was quashed by the mayor, who had believed a certain UCD Ph.D.’s assertion that chaparral was “degraded grassland” and declared the problem would be solved by bulldozing all the brush (or words to that effect). It was never even printed for review, and the archivist does not have a copy. In that report, we conceived of a 30′ fuel-free zone next to structures, and separation (vertically and horizontally) ignitable (<1/2 inch diameter) of natural vegetation, increasingly out to 300'. I wouldn't suggest that today, but would explore the feasibility of ember-barrier vegetation at 100'. The idea was to create conditions that would burn itself out before igniting structures. If we get too tough, we could generate compliance-resistance. https://www.sandiego.gov/fire/about/majorfires/1985normalheights
I hope that you are not rejecting "sprinklers" as one more means of preventing structure ignitions and playing a part in overall fire-prevention strategy.
I come late to this discussion, but I was struck by Jame’s story of his house incinerating despite having his house/yard dripping with water. If you see this James, I would like to learn more about your opinion as to the reason. Thank you, John D.
I am in the process of developing a 100% self contained wildfire protection unit that will provide 150 to 250+ foot circle of defensible area. Options will include automatic starting, remote control, 3/4 hr to multiple hours of run time, fire retardant, maintenance programs and more. Prices will include setup and training.
Interested parties please contact me with your specific needs and I will try to add them into the design.
This is great, Richard. Thank you for sharing your efforts.
I want to find out how I can get this installed now. Does anyone have that information?
Hi Judie, we are updating our information sheet this week and will post it here. Or you can let us know your email by contacting us directly:
naturalist@californiachaparral.org
Sorry, I missed your earlier post. I should have the Proto type & paperwork done in a few months. Contact me for more details.
I’ve been searching the internet for some sort of automatic fire detection system that will trigger the electric start on a gas water pump. I haven’t been able to find anything appropriate for an off-grid cabin. I’m sure I’m missing something. Is there a list of fire detectors somewhere? Am I just googling the wrong terms?
It is indeed frustrating. We’ll be posting an updated info sheet here this week. Alternatively, you might want to send us an email directly:
naturalist@californiachaparral.org
Yes, I will have exactly that in a few months. It will be self contained, automated, 200′ of defended area, options to include: fire retardant, remote control, tank sizes, fire detectors and more.
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why is this information sent to all town officials and homeowners
You mean why “isn’t” this info sent? That is the question we have been asking for years. Wildland fire agencies like Cal Fire and the US Forest Service are more concerned about clearing habitat and fighting wildfires than protecting communities, so that’s part of the problem. Municipal fire agencies are more enlightened, but many of them still just focus on vegetation too. We are seeing some changes, but not fast enough. It doesn’t help when Governor Newsom rejects bills that would help communities with retrofits.
There is a lot I would like to say about “Municipal” fire agencies and city council’s reluctance to thinning green belts and shepherding the homeless out of these tender boxes, but suffice it to say that it seems like we have learned little from the Paradise disaster. By that I mean, it’s great to thin forest, but there has been no attention to evacuation routes in terms of adjacent vegetation. This is where the rubber meets the road: when people have to drive through burning trees to get to the hwy. We’ve seen how this works out.
John, yes, the evacuation issue… they keep planning them based on the best case scenario. Consequently, people die.
In addition to the Ham Lake results, there are plenty of success stories where am exterior sprinkler system has protected a house from burning. You can read about two such examples of eave sprays and roof sprinkler systems that saved homes in the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego and the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise. And Frontline’s customer in Wyoming saved her home in the 2018 Roosevelt Fire . That said, when evaluating wildfire defense systems, there are a few critical capabilities. First, remote, satellite-enabled activation is key, so you can operate your system after you’ve evacuated or while travelling. Second, backup water and electricity sources are a must. And third, using an effective Class A firefighting foam, as described above, will amplify the protective wetting qualities of water.
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One of the best articles that I’ve read in a very long time! I Took notes and surely gonna implement and test bunch of stuff you talked about.
You’re a beast! Cheers, Ash
Wow, thanks for explaining how during that fire, 188 properties had exterior fire sprinklers and all 188 of them survived. I never thought about putting up fire sprinklers on the outside of my house. I think I will get it done now that I know how effective they can be.
Hi Franklin – what state do you live in?
If you are in California, please see our website for our patent-pending Firestad at http://www.firestad.com , thank you!
We live in Southern Oregon & as of this minute we are level 1 evacuation. We bought the house 2 yrs ago but finally moved here full time in July
We have a well & was wondering if you happen to know the min water pressure needed for sprinklers to work
It depends on the size of your property, they type of sprinklers you are using or intend to use, how many are used, how many lineal feet of pipe, how many Gallons per minute they disperse, gallons per hour used, how much is available, etc? You need to know how many gallons per minute or per hour your well water pump puts out before you do anything, and determine your water pressure before doing putting in a system. As an example our exterior house water dispersion system delivers between 13 to 15 gal per min, and at 14 gym, it is 840 gallons per hour, running at 55PSI. Normally speaking you should look for at least 55PSI or more for water pressure to run a system adequately without a high pressure water pump being added. The average home size we figure is approx. 1670 sq ft nationwide, therefore you would need approximately 320 lineal feet of pipe to do your home at that size, and that would include 53 water spigots putting out approx. 14 gal per minute, which would take about 10 minutes to drench your home and about 10′ of the immediate land surrounding it.
In addition, if you had perimeter sprinklers soaking your surrounding property along with the home system, then you would need more water, GPM and Pressure, and have it set in zones so your water pressure stays adequate. It all comes down to knowing the specific dimensions, and lineal feet of pipe needed for the entire system to figure out the math. If you have a pool it could be adapted as a water backup or additional source. Our system can be viewed at http://www.frestad.com
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Keep up the great work! Thank you so much for sharing great posts.
Thank you Chris.
Check out – firestad.com
Thanks Ron for letting us know.
– Rick
I sent the studies I mentioned to the email address you shared Rick. Cheers
https://youtu.be/er8UQUGDy2o
Hi, This is Tim from Roof Saver Sprinklers. We provide affordable sprinkler kits for homeowners and Rapid Deployment Kits for Firefighters and Structure protection teams. Please visit our site! http://www.roofsaversprinklers.com