A contract firefighter -- tired of getting water to wildfires in remote areas -- has created a new tool that others may be using soon.
Its patent is pending and the very first production model was just completed this week, KMPH reported.
“I can go anywhere [with it]. I can climb, I can go down hills, grades, ravines. I can access – pretty much anywhere I can go with my masticator, I can get there with my firebox as well,” said Sean Henry, creator of the FYREBX, a skid steer attachment that holds 300 gallons of water.
“The issue for me was, a lot of places I was going into, that quarter mile could be very steep terrain, hard to get to, so a pickup truck pulling a trailer with a water buffalo with 300 gallons of water, you couldn’t get into that area. We would have to lay line, run the hose. You’re talking – a fire doubles in size every 60 seconds. If you have high winds, that’s even greater. So the threat to me, I didn’t like the idea of, ‘Man I don’t have access to water right then and there,’” explained the contract wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service.
For context, the Type III engines CALFire uses for wildland fires carry 500 gallons while the smallest engines in the fleet, Type VI, carries the same amount as the FYREBX.
