GPS-Tracked Chemical Fire Protection Zones for Wind-Driven Wildfires
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for suppressing wild fires are inadequate in protecting neighborhoods, homes, and human life from the destructive forces of wild fires, particularly under strong winds, and existing notification systems do not effectively help home and business owners proactively defend against raging fires.
Innovation Solution
A system and network for managing the supply, delivery, and spray-application of environmentally-clean anti-fire (AF) liquid material using GPS and mobile communication techniques to create strategic fire breaks before wild fires, employing a platoon of small planes, ATVs, and mobile systems to apply AF chemical liquid to ground cover and building surfaces, with a command center and mobile application for real-time monitoring and instruction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional fire suppression methods (aerial water dropping, chemical retardant dropping, physical fire breaks) are used, then fire suppression efforts are made, but the methods are inadequate under strong winds and fail to provide adequate protection to neighborhoods and homes
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies fire retardant chemical liquid to ground cover and building surfaces before wild fires arrive, creating pre-treated zones that resist ignition and spread. This preliminary treatment ensures protection is already in place when fires arrive, overcoming the limitation of conventional methods that react after fire spread begins.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary substance (fire retardant chemical liquid) that mediates between the fire and the property. This chemical intermediary creates a protective barrier on ground cover and building surfaces, interfering with the fire's ability to ignite and spread, thereby protecting against the harmful wind-driven fire spread.
2Productivity
If more money and personnel are deployed for fire suppression, then suppression efforts increase, but the benefits are not realized and conventional methods continue to fail
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables property owners to proactively treat their own premises with fire retardant chemical liquid through mobile application systems. This self-service approach allows residents to independently protect their properties without waiting for government suppression efforts, thereby increasing overall protection effectiveness without requiring additional public funding or personnel.
Solution Approach 2:
By performing fire protection treatment in advance before fires arrive, the system increases the effectiveness of protection without requiring additional resources during the fire event. The preliminary application of chemical retardant creates lasting protection that reduces the need for intensive real-time suppression efforts.
3Loss of information
If notification systems provide fire alerts to homeowners, then awareness is increased, but the systems do not enable proactive defense and homeowners cannot take meaningful action
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides homeowners with mobile application tools and GPS-directed instructions that enable them to independently apply fire retardant chemical liquid to their properties. This transforms passive notification receipt into active self-service protection, allowing homeowners to directly defend their properties using simplified mobile technology.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile application system provides real-time feedback to homeowners through GPS coordinates, treatment schedules, and progress tracking. This feedback loop enables homeowners to understand exactly when and where to apply treatment, making the defense process straightforward and actionable rather than abstract information.
4Reliability
If fire retardant chemical liquid is applied to ground cover and buildings, then fire spread is stalled, but the system complexity increases with GPS tracking, mobile communications, and coordinated application
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the fire protection task into independent segments: each homeowner or property owner operates independently using their own mobile device and GPS-tracked vehicle. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by eliminating the need for centralized coordination of every treatment application, while still achieving reliable fire spread prevention through distributed action.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Reduces the risks of damage to property and life by forming proactive fire protection zones that stall fire ignition and spread, even in dry conditions, and enables automatic replenishment of AF chemical liquid, providing enhanced fire suppression and potential insurance discounts.
Implementation Method 1
The chemistry of the spray-applied clean anti-fire (AF) liquid has been developed to break a wild fire by interfering with the free-radicals produced during the combustion phase of a ranging wild fire
Data Source
AI summary
A neighborhood of buildings or homes, provided with a system for forming and maintaining GPS tracked and mapped environmentally-clean chemical-based fire protection zones formed over property and ground surfaces in and about the neighborhood of homes, that proactively inhibit fire ignition and flame spread when exposed to wild fire. The system includes a GPS-tracking anti-fire (AF) liquid spraying system wirelessly connected to a wireless communication network supporting a network database. The GPS-tracked anti-fire liquid spraying system is used to spray particular GPS-specified ground surfaces in and about the buildings and neighborhood, with an environmentally-clean anti-fire chemical liquid so to form environmentally-clean chemical fire protection zones over the GPS-specified property surfaces, while generating GPS-coordinate and time/date stamped data records pertaining to the application of the environmentally-clean anti-fire chemical liquid spray during the formation of the environmentally-clean chemical fire protection zones. The GPS-coordinate and time/date stamped data records are transmitted over the wireless communication network for storage in the network database. A mobile computing system is used to access the GPS-coordinate and time/date stamped data records from the network database, relating to the formation of the GPS-specified environmentally-clean chemical fire protection zones, so as to verify that the GPS-specified environmentally-clean chemical fire protection zones were formed at the GPS-specified property surfaces on the particular date, to proactively inhibit fire ignition and flame spread when exposed to wild fire.