Someone whose name I believe is Steve Shoap, judging from the email address he leaves, keeps leaving comments attached to various articles here on Wildfire Today attempting to promote his invention. We have not approved any of the comments for publication because our policy is to not bother our readers with spam and unsolicited advertisements.
But this invention of his is supposed to be a “new way to fight wildfires”. It involves truck-mounted reels of large diameter hose (LDH) that has high voltage electric power wires embedded into the walls of the LDH. An electric generator energizes the wires which power water pumps at intervals along the hose. (And we all know it’s a good idea to have water and high voltage electricity in close proximity.)
He estimates the cost for one mile of the system would be $210,000 including the generator.
Disregarding the water/electricity combination for a moment, there may be some special situations or types of fires where a system like this would be useful, but generally, getting water to a wildfire so that it can be utilized by firefighters is not the biggest factor that prevents wildfires from being controlled.
What do you think about this new invention?
Update: Steve Shoap is still promoting his idea. Today he sent out an email to the hundreds of people on the International Association of Wildland Fire’s FireNet listserv.
Dear Mr. Gabbert,Thank you for giving my ideas some exposure. Your readers can get to the wildfire portion of my websitevia http://www.electric-fluid-pipeline.comI am an electrical engineer and I believe that we can keep the water and voltage separate.The wires I propose are used in the mining industry and are very rugged. They are discussed on my website.Thank you again,Steve Shoap
hahahahahahahahahaha … Bill, you can add this to your list of "I have a great idea for fighting fires!"Back in my magazine editing years, I got several of these every month or so. Someone should collect them all and publish it. My favorite was the super-enthusiastic guy who just knew that we could take used ‘chutes from the jumper bases and quilt them together (like football-field size or bigger) and get four helicopters, one on each corner, to settle it down like a tarp over a fire, thus snuffing out the oxygen and putting the fire out!!!!!right.I’m sure the USFS and rappeller bases and rotor companies would be all over that one, if they just knew how effective it would be.As a side note, I think you can blacklist or ban repeat harassment posts on this server. I wish I’d had a "kill button" for the IL-76 guys back in ’98 or so ………… </rant>
Zzzzzap! How would one know if it is de-engerized and safe to uncouple while standing in water with wet gloves? Too risky. And how about the weight of the copper conductors? And what happens when it gets driven over? No thanks.