Linda Cantey had her cell phone ring off the night the Atlas wildfire devastated her area of ??Napa, California.
“We were fast asleep when that thing devastated our neighborhood,” recalls Cantey, an aerospace engineer and consultant based in Northern California.
“By the time someone called our landline and woke us up… the entire canyon was on fire, and we could see on the other side of the canyon that every single house there was already on fire.”
Fortunately, she and her husband managed to escape, but an elderly couple on their street was not so lucky.
The couple was ready to leave their garage by car, but the power went out and they didn't know how to open the door to escape.
Hundreds of other homes and structures were destroyed by that fire, which broke out in October 2017, ultimately devastating more than 20,000 hectares, destroying 783 structures and claiming six lives.
On its website, NASA notes that extreme wildfire activity has doubled over the past two decades.
The recent and devastating fires in France and Spain only confirm this trend, with thousands of hectares burned and thousands evacuated in both European countries.
Ideas to protect yourself
Cantey's voice still breaks with emotion as he remembers what happened years ago and the devastating consequences.
But he channeled that trauma and pain into concrete actions.
In addition to joining local fire safety advisory centers, Cantey contacted a mining company she works for as a consultant, specializing in underground refuge chambers.
He asked them if they could use their technology and experience to design something that could similarly save lives in the event of wildfires.
The above-ground shelter design was unveiled last month.
Called “The Fort,” it is a shed-shaped bunker, with fireproof doors and materials built to house up to eight people and valuables, and that keeps the air smoke-free for a maximum of four hours.
“If it weren't for Linda, I don't think we would have built it,” says Josh Behling, president of Wildfire Safety Systems and one of the fort's inventors.
“El Fuerte” is just one of several new products, from high-tech hydraulic houses to brush-cutting goats, that are emerging as wildfires continue to worsen.
None of these solutions are cheap. At the cheaper end, a herd of goats can cost more than $3,000 a day to clear a field.
“El Fuerte” has a starting price of US$60,000. Other companies offer fireproof home coatings and innovative irrigation systems, which can cost thousands of dollars.
The night before the launch of the “Fuerte” in April, two entrepreneurs appeared on the US reality show Shark Tank to present their unique solution: HiberTec Homes, a hydraulic system that allows the home to disappear underground in a matter of minutes.
The company said a 1,000-square-foot home would cost approximately $1.2 million.
Holden Forrest, with a background in real estate and construction, said he came up with the idea for hydraulic homes in 2019, just after the Woolsey Fire, which destroyed 1,200 homes near his home in Malibu, also in California.
According to him, he drew an idea on the back of his 9-year-old daughter's notebook and shortly afterward he showed it to an architect, partly hoping that he would laugh at him and throw him out of the room.
Instead, that led to a years-long effort, working with engineers and other experts, to develop its patented technology.
Long term solutions
Neither “El Fuerte” nor HiberTec will rescue anyone en masse immediately. Forrest estimates that the first hydraulic house will be available by 2030.
Behling says there are currently two display units of the “Fort” and they anticipate about 150 orders a year initially.
The shelters will be manufactured at a plant in Utah and will ship approximately five weeks after orders are received.
“El Fuerte” is intended as a last resort; No one is advising residents to stay in their homes as the flames approach. But in case there is no escape, Cantey and the “Fort” team hope that the “shed in your backyard” can save lives.
She and Behling even volunteered to sit inside the structure while it underwent live fire testing, with firefighters on standby.
The important role of goats
Other solutions proposed to combat forest fires are lower technology.
In Colorado, Kimberly Jones has increased her herd of goats from 25 to 250 in seven years, using their efficient teeth, hooves and stomachs to clear brush and slow the spread of flames.
Although his business, Goat Mowers LLC, has grown steadily, this year he has seen an increase in calls and new customers due to the drought.
“They are afraid,” he says, referring to the owners. “They are very afraid.”
Last year, he says, a forest fire devastated the area 17 days after his goats cleared a home, and the flames stopped 100 meters from where the goats had done their work.
Another goat farming company, Blue Tent Farms, has also seen demand increase in its home state of California.
Arrowsmith's fire prevention company, Western Grazers, primarily serves clients with large tracts of land, but he has noticed how recent disasters and growing awareness of the role goats can play in fire prevention have also sparked greater interest among individuals.
“As soon as the grass starts changing color, I get requests – probably ten a week – from homeowners,” he says.
Every company knows that it is not only seeking profits, but also protecting people and property that are in danger.
“It's become a mission, and I think it's the reason I'm on this planet,” says Forrest, who adds that he sold his house and all his belongings to make HiberTec Homes a reality.
“I just thought, ‘We have to find a solution. We have to do it.’ So now it has become a mission.”
For Linda Cantey, helping innovate to save people and belongings has contributed to her own healing.
"It's therapy for all of us, because what we've witnessed and experienced, we wouldn't wish on anyone else. But it's going to keep happening."
This article was originally written in English and we used an artificial intelligence tool to translate it.
