Homeowners Build Fire Apparatus
A homeowner in California has built his own fire rig to protect his house from wildland fire (from abc7.com).
LA HABRA HEIGHTS - One local man has taken some unusual steps to increase his home's odds of surviving a firestorm. He has set up his own personal firehouse - sort of.George Edwards has been a video photographer here in Los Angeles for the better part of 2 years, during that time he has found himself in the middle of everything including forest fires. So when he and his wife bought property in La Habra Heights a few years ago they were determined to make sure their investment did not go up in smoke.
They decide to take firefighting into their own hands. They took a tractor and added a water tank, installed a high-pressure pump and purchased surplus fire hoses and then got the nozzles they needed.
There are some pictures of their fire tractor to check out too.
I think it is a good thing that this homeowner is taking some responsibility to protect his property. However, there are a couple of things that I didn't see that concern me. Has this couple purchased the proper PPE for wildland firefighting? Have they taken any formal wildland firefighting classes?
If they haven't done either of these things they are really asking for trouble. They could easily get themselves into a situation where they will be seriously injured or killed. They may even endanger firefighters that could be dispatched to extricate the homeowners from the dangerous situation.
I posted about homeowners as firefighters back in September. The original article I read dealt with homeowners refusing to evacuate after an evacuation order was given so that they could protect their property.
