Some San Diego firefighters spent Friday morning spraying down chaparral in the San Carlos neighborhood, next to Cowles Mountain. But it wasn’t water coming out of the nozzles.
“This product is called Mighty Fire Breaker. It’s an EPA approved product," said San Diego Fire Rescue Department Deputy Chief Tony Tosca.
EPA approved because Former San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman said there’s nothing toxic in it.
“It’s a citrus-based food-based product that can be sprayed months in advance on dry vegetation or homes and it’ll stay fire resistant that entire time," Bowman said.
Bowman went on to say that it will last for six months, and the only thing that can remove it before that is heavy rain.
There’s no rain, heavy or otherwise, in the forecast.
Today was the first time the San Diego Fire Rescue Department used the product on chaparral. But they have been using it along the San Diego River, to keep encampment fires from spreading.
So, how do we know for sure it works?
Bowman did his own experiment on his Christmas tree, which he sprayed five weeks ago.
“It’s as dead as dead can be, and we put a 3,000 degree torch on it and it wouldn’t burn. A dead Christmas tree — won’t burn. I’ve never seen anything like it," said Bowman.
Bowman and Tosca said their hope now is people will start to put systems in place that will spray the product on their home if wildfire approaches. New homes can build it in during construction, but they say existing homes could use it too.
They said it won’t be cheap — probably around $25,000 — but balance that against losing your home.
The priority for the fire department now is using the spray to protect exit routes.
“Did you see the vehicles stacked up on the escape routes in LA? They ended up leaving their vehicles because they couldn’t move," Bowman said. "We have a device that will spray it 300 feet up the hill, so no fire would burn toward the exit route. People could leave without fear of dying in their cars."
The San Diego Fire Rescue Department will continue spraying in fire-prone areas. Once — and if — fire comes, the hope is this Mighty Fire Breaker product will be the ultimate example of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.
