The charred remains of a multi-million dollar mansion crumbled under Randall Griffin’s work boots. “The entire neighbourhood was burned to ashes,” he says. “There was literally one home left.” Now, less than two years after Griffin surveyed the aftermath of the wildfires that destroyed more than 3,000 homes in Southern California, USA, his group at the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate is testing a tent that could shield homes from the most ferocious fires.
Most houses are in danger well before flames hit their doorstep—burning embers can travel up to a kilometre in the wind. So DHS teamed with Foster-Miller to adapt a tent typically used to protect military vehicles from chemical attacks into a system that deflects flames from houses. A year and a few hundred metres of fireproof, rugged nylon cordura later, they produced the SAFE Quick Cover, a rooftop system that rolls out the fabric at the flip of a switch, covering an evacuated house in minutes. (You couldn’t stay in the covered house, because the fire’s heat would still kill you.) “A homeowner could deploy the system on their way out the door,” says Rob Knochenhauer, the lead engineer on the project for Foster-Miller.
The Black Saturday fires that raged through Victoria earlier this year killed 173 people, many of whom were caught in the blaze while trying to save their house. “People put themselves in harm’s way because they want a fire truck in front of their home before they will evacuate,” Griffin says. “Quick Cover could save lives while protecting property.”
See how it works in the July 09 edition of Popular Science, on sale now!
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I'm surprised no one has thought of something like this sooner! Its such a simple design yet would be great for those areas at high risk of fire. Of course, finidng a fireproof material which would also be fairly cheap and easily stored away until use would have been the tough part I guess.
I just thought that this cover may keep your house safe for a while, but for how long? Even a very good thermal insulator will eventually absorb enough heat to either melt away or leak enougb heat through to cause the material in contact with it on the other side to catch fire. But this protection, however temporary, is far better than nothing and would undoubdetly be saving property since you activate it on the way out.
There would be an incredibly high demand for a product like that in Australia. It will be interesting to see how this gets developed and how much it will sell for.
On the other hand, insurance companies may require you to have protection like this in the future before they'll even consider doing business with you, so that might make it difficult for low-income families.