Thread: Fire Fighting System.

For anyone turning up late there is a typo in Simon's post 13, its "Project VESTA"
I only found it as it got a mention in one of the other books Simon mentioned.

Greg,

It appears that your bushfire plan is to stay and defend rather than leave early. Good to see you are thinking ahead.

The thing that concerns me with your system is that it is very dependant on you being on the end of a 50m hose. Dragging that hose from spot fire to spot fire will be terribly exhausting in the summer heat. Only you can determine whether you are up to that. Remember that ember attacks start well in advance of the fire front so you could be working for several hours.

Although a long fire hose reel is a great idea I would suggest that you also consider;

1. Roof/house fine mist sprinklers (as previously discussed)
2. Multiple sprinklers wetting the ground X metres around the house
3. Either a backpack sprayer or quad bike mounted (ie fast mobile) sprayer system
4. Determine the extent of what you are trying to save and design the system around that
5. Either move LPG supply cylinders away from the house or ensure they are covered by sprinklers

You would need to turn on your sprinklers as soon as the ember attack starts and leave it on until the fire front has passed. This could be a long time depending on the terrain and direction. You will need to determine/ estimate this time and size your tank capacity according to it and total flow rate.

If you are deciding to stay and defend, your life will depend on the effectiveness of your system so over-spec and don't go cheap.