Wildfire suppression trailer

[Eagle1]

General Programs and Prices

Costs depend on the job, a quick day price is as low as $350, and the full day rate can range from $500 to $650.

thegoatscapers.simdif.com

Goats sell for around $100 to 150for adults here, for just meat goats. Kid can be half or less.
Not Registered or fancy. Milk goats tend about 200+
If you time it right, you can get em free when someone is pissed at them.

 

[RayIN]

I've been thinking about that water trailer. Two things determine if it's feasible; terrain and heavy forest can make it impractical.

side-story. Back years ago (1965 I think) I was on the volunteer fire dept. We got a call about a wildfire.
When we arrived we could see and smell the smoke in the distance. The guy that met us said there was no way to drive our 4WD pickup back to the fire, so we hiked in, turned out to be about a mile off the nearest road.

Our team was 5, we eventually got the fire out- way after dark.
Only then did we realize none of us had a flashlight. Took us about an hour to get to a road. A flashlight was added to the standard backpack items list when we got back to the station house.

 

[jyoutz]

I believe that @ultrarunner is in an area with both high demand, and lots of local requirements. I suspect all of which add to the cost, plus most of the larger goat herds come from several hundred miles away. I know of one Texas operation that brings multiple million dollar herds out here for fuel reduction.

I wonder how far away your Arizona herds have to travel.

All the best,

Peter

IDK where the AZ goat herds come from. There are some local ranchers there that do the fuels reduction herding. There are also some that come from Texas and adjoining states.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group has standards for Wildland Fire Engines, which govern which sizes of nozzles, how many feet of what hose, plus tank and pump capacities, etc., various engines need.

Equipment, PMS 200 | NWCG

The very largest wildland engines carry 750-gallons of water. Small ones carry only 50-gallons. The Type V Engine, which is what most of the Forest Service Engines are, carry 400-gallons. Wildland engines typically carry 300-feet each of 1-1/2 and 1-inch hoses. Any hose larger than 1-1/2-inch is too much for one guy to handle. An engine has a crew of two. There will be another two to four guys in the chase truck, but their job is to use the hand tools to knock down vegetation.

Basically, keep the growth down to provide defensible space, and you don’t need much water.

The other thing is making the structures themselves fire resistant. Small mesh, (1/4-inch or smaller), metal screens on all vents, which won’t allow wind-blown embers into the structure. A metal roof which won’t ignite if an ember lands on it. Fire resistant siding. Shutters for windows, so they don’t burst from the indirect heat.

You can buy fire retardant chemicals through HomeDesperate. You can mix and apply the fire retardant a day or two before there is a fire, and mist it as a fire approaches. With two tanks, you could fill one with retardant by adding water from the other tank to agitate and mix it.

I'm working on developing something similar, but with a single tank, a 3-hp pump as a backup, and running the primary pump off the PTO. I'm not planning on any hose greater than 1-inch. Plumb it so the pump discharge goes to a pressure relief valve with a return to the tank, followed by a pressure regulator to control the pressure to the nozzle. And, I'm going to gauge it in feet of head instead of psi. Lots easier for my engineer brain to memorize how many feet of head the nozzle needs, what the feet of head loss per length of hose is and just add or subtract for any change in elevation in feet. Using psi for fire engines never made sense to me. You have to convert from elevation to psi to compensate for height above or below the engine, and when you do conversions, you make mistakes.

 

[ponytug]

Around here, recent studies have shown that it is important to use 1/8" or finer mesh to resist ignition by wind blown embers. The local agencies strongly recommend not using 1/4".

Fire-Resistant Vents - Fire Safe Marin

Wildfires pose a significant threat to ecosystems, communities, and infrastructure. One overlooked aspect of this threat is the vulnerability of vents to fire.

firesafemarin.org

Of course, vents are one piece of the puzzle. A clear area around the house of only nonflammable materials (no firewood, deck chairs, shrubs...), and fire resistant walls and roof surfaces, with gutter screening to prevent ember accumulation. The website above has many useful resources. More below on defensible space and other protective measures that can be taken.

Defensible Space

Prepare for embers flying in from a mile or more away.

www.oakhillfiresafe.org

Defensible Space | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

Neighbor last year went to a cement tile type roof and the city inspector made him eliminate all eve vents covering with solid blocking saying Eve vents are now prohibited in high fire zones…

I had my roof done a few years prior and the roofer said I didn’t have enough eve vents for the shingle warranty so I had to add… permit inspector said nothing.

 

[CliffordK]

Also,maybe consider a nozzle that can also shoot out a narrow stream of water so you don't go through all your water quickly. It's amazing how much fire one of these could put out with a small stream of water..

View attachment 2707551

Grandpa filled his with Diesel. Better to make the fires burn.

 

[CliffordK]

A few years ago I was burning a slash pile that was put in a bad location. I singed the lower branches of one of my trees. What I discovered at the time was that my garden hose wouldn't even spray up to the lowest branches of the tree. There was no way my hose would reach 200+ feet in the air up to the top of any of my trees.

I need a lot more pressure.

 

[ultrarunner]

Water Pressure varies greatly…

My brother lives in a nice hilltop sub-division and he was on a business trip when my sister in law called and said the sprinklers are not working and it takes forever to fill the tub.

I found 18 psi and the culprit was a failed booster pump.

I have the opposite in that I’m down a saddleback ridge so the water pressure is normal at the tops but due to my lower elevation my pressure is 180 psi and with my 1.5 inch line I have tremendous flow.

 

[ponytug]

Neighbor last year went to a cement tile type roof and the city inspector made him eliminate all eve vents covering with solid blocking saying Eve vents are now prohibited in high fire zones…

I had my roof done a few years prior and the roofer said I didn’t have enough eve vents for the shingle warranty so I had to add… permit inspector said nothing.

I hear you. Fire codes around here are rapidly moving targets, some places more than others. I notice that Oakland and Berkeley seem to have recently gotten religion over fire code enforcement. North Bay got it after Santa Rosa, and down here soon after that. Our recent roof required 1/16" slits with screens, and a 1/4 covered peak vent.

A few years ago I was burning a slash pile that was put in a bad location. I singed the lower branches of one of my trees. What I discovered at the time was that my garden hose wouldn't even spray up to the lowest branches of the tree. There was no way my hose would reach 200+ feet in the air up to the top of any of my trees.

I need a lot more pressure.

We have the same issue and 140+psi fire pumps seem to be as rare as hen's teeth and pricey to boot. Plus, I would want more than a dribble at the top of the trees...If you find one, let me know.

Water Pressure varies greatly…

My brother lives in a nice hilltop sub-division and he was on a business trip when my sister in law called and said the sprinklers are not working and it takes forever to fill the tub.

I found 18 psi and the culprit was a failed booster pump.

I have the opposite in that I’m down a saddleback ridge so the water pressure is normal at the tops but due to my lower elevation my pressure is 180 psi and with my 1.5 inch line I have tremendous flow.

Lucky you.

All the best,

Peter