Michael Archer brought us a timely program on September 18^th in view of the current Station Fire in the Las Padres National Forest. His concept is to strategically place dip tanks that helicopter’s could access to put out little fires before they can spread and become big fires. Also his non profit organization, The Water Cache Project, would place guzzlers so that animals would have access to water and thereby not come into communities that border the wildlands. He also said that there would be a solar-powered audio/video unit that could scan for a number of miles to detect fires as they first begin.

He mentioned that the Station Fire has cost about $100 million so far. The firefighters at the federal, state, county and city levels all have depleted budgets. The wildfire has put out an enormous amount of CO2 which will further add to the world climate warming. He estimated that the amount put into the atmosphere would be equivalent to 12 million car exhausts emissions for a year. Imagine if the system was in place and put out the Station Fire before it spread. Systems like his have been installed in Arizona, Big Bear and overseas.

His system is not a cure all. Normal fire suppression techniques such as brush clearing, fire resistant plants and covering of vents with fire mish amount other techniques are still needed.

His presentation gave us some hope that his Water Cache Project can bring new tools to fight our local wild fires.