Fire Season
We don’t have hurricanes or tornadoes or floods (I’m on top of a hill) but we do have fires. And this year’s shaping up to be the worst I’ve seen here in over 25 years.
It was an extremely dry winter; snowpack is about 40% of normal – the lowest ever recorded here; below 70% is the drought threshold. Boise metro is under a Drought Emergency Ordinance (I believe such things when the golf courses turn brown. If they stay green, it’s a political emergency).
We’ve had several small fires in the region – early this year – and I live at the edge of a sagebrush/cheat grass covered hillside.
We had a fire come upslope in this neighborhood a few years ago. Five fire depts and a sort-of paved road stopped the advance – Had it hopped the road … but it didn’t. One guy had flames up to the edge of his newly laid sod 10 ft off his house. No damage to structures.
I’ve played this game before …
$1400 of insurance.
Obtained one – with more available – 255 gallon tank. It (will) sit near an eavestrough to funnel rainwater into the tank (screened of course). [ a “please take it off our hands” bargain) ($400 if purchased). NPT drain fitting.
Through one end of a 2″ suction hose with a strainer into the tank … ($110)
Will drop hose and strainer in through the top – minimize debris.
And feed it into a 2″ high-pressure trash pump such as this Northstar ($700) 135gpm, 94psi unit
Put a 2″-to-1½” reducer on the output ($25 ea) – cause the pump itself will empty that tank in 2 minutes running full bore
which connects to 100ft of 1½” fire hose ($110)
where I can control the flow of water through a brass fire nozzle ($40)
A bit above the equivalent of a USFS Type 6 fire truck (150 gal/50gpm/100psi/300ft hose). Not quite a Type 5 which carries 400 gal at 100psi at 50 gpm on a pickup frame comparable to a Ford F550 4×4.
I don’t need the truck.
It’s what the pros would show up with for initial attack before the heavy stuff arrives … and $1400 is cheap compared to what a house fire – even a minor one – would cost.
One does not simply open the nozzle and let the water fly …
Idaho became the 43rd state on July 3, 1890.
George Washington took command of the rebel army in 1775
General Lee headed back south after a failed visit to Pennsylvania in 1863.
Brian Jones (Rolling Stones) and Jim Morrision (Doors) died on this date 2 years apart (1969/1971)
You know I’m not much of a prayer person but I will make an exception for you.
You neglected to mention the fall of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863. Vicksburg did not celebrate July 4th till 1945.
But … but … but … it’s only July 3rd
In our neck of the
woodsdesert, new build homes require fire sprinklers. I’m looking at 2 sprinkler heads in the room as I write. The system is something that simultaneously comforts and terrifies me. Should we ever have a house fire, it should start tamping down the fire well before the Fire Department can show up. But the other way to see it is that just above our heads is a pressurized water line with a couple’o dozen trip valves just waiting to drench the entire house and contents. Should one of those valves sense a fire in error, we’re going to be left with a huge mess.My goal is to keep a wildland fire away from the house. Sprinklers may help once a fire gets going in the house … but the water damage could be worse than the fire damage.
I forgot to ask…how close is the fire to you?
Not even in sight as I write this. Think of this system as a large outdoor fire extinguisher. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
That’s good news. I was doing my thing…worrying.
In 2002 we built our brand new crib in a rural, flat area in NW Cape Coral, FL where the closest neighbor was more than a mile away. The area was littered with Melaleuca trees, also known as paper trees and they will turn into big torches under the slightest of provocation especially in the dry season. I cut down most that were within a few hundred feet of our house, but when the wind comes off the Gulf during a fire it can do more than you need.
I designed and built a system to my specifications.
Just behind the main peak of the roof, and not visible from the front street, I installed two high pressure (1000 gpm each) “pop up style” fire sprinkler heads about 30 feet apart. The heads were connected to 2″ schedule 80 PVC pipes in the attic to a 5th inlet on our 28,000 gal pool through the 3 hp pump. The electricity to the house was underground so I was not worried a fire would cut it, but I also had an 8,000kw Troy-Bilt generator always on standby.
When the house was completed I did a test run on this fire suppression system and it performed as expected.
I turned off the timer on the pump-filter, manually turned the pump-filter on, twisted off all the pool inlets then turned on the inlet for the sprinklers. There was a loud thud thud as the 2 sprinklers popped up and commenced to drenching the entire house and yard out to about a 100′ radius or more. I let it run for a minute then turned it off. I saw no noticeable drop in the pool water. I got up in the attic and looked for leaks and found none. I also went up on the roof and inspected the sprinklers, no problems. I did this test 2 more times over the next couple of hours and no problems.
It gave us a huge sense of security knowing that it was very unlikely that any kind of exterior fire would damage our house as long as we were there to activate the system. It was easy enough my wife was capable of doing it. Throw a switch, twist 4 valves off, twist 1 valve on, throw a switch – and stand under the overhang. lol
Cost?
I think the sprinkler heads cost less than $30 each at that time. Another $30 for PVC pipe and glue, and maybe $10 for another inlet valve. I did all the work myself so as to keep the “authorities” out of it. Oh yeah, 2 lead boots for the roof penetrations. So total cost was around $100 or so and the labor was mine.
With a little more effort this could probably be done to an existing house.
Maybe the next time I will tell you my ideas on the best way to address the realities of the 2 most common ways fires start inside houses.
(hint: air conditioning condensers and kitchen ranges)
“1000 gpm each” … that’s a lot of water. sure it’s not 1000 gal/hr? 2000 gpm would leave a noticeable drop in your pool level pretty quickly.
There’s a material similar to that in baby diapers that expands when wet, is sticky, and makes a good fire retardant. Kind of a foam. Good for coating walls in the event of a fire. Can’t for the life of me remember what it’s called.
I don’t have good water pressure here or a pool. On top of hill with gravity feed system. 25psi is good; often a little less. Also we run out of water well before those below us on the system. Needed a tank and good pump. May get another tank …
In our area, chimney fires and dryer vents. Most kitchen fires here are restaurants.