After living on the flatlands for almost 50 years I recently moved to the beautiful mountains of Southern California. Not only did I take a leap into the unknown, I did it right at the peak of California wildfire season. Time to get to work!

That didn’t take long. The Jeep was no sooner unpacked than I began surveying the area and its defensible space in regard to the looming dangers of California wildfires.

Northern California and Southern California have overlapping wildfire seasons. Southern California wildfire season starts in the late springtime towards the end of May and will extend through until the fall. Northern California wildfire season starts early in the summer and will continue until late in the fall. However, with climate change the California wildfire season is getting longer and longer and its pretty much a coin flip when it really starts. I mean something as unpredictable as a wildfire doesn’t really have a time-clock, so it’s best to prepare early and stay prepared.

For context, my home is at the top of a hill overlooking a valley (fires typically burn uphill) and my home is surrounded by trees and a large wooden deck… Couple obstacles to contend with. As I was taking inventory of the situation, I looked at my favorable conditions as I prepare for a SHTF wildfire situation. The house is relatively small and has an extremely high pitched roof. Such a pitch creates a favorable condition for overwatch and water suppression over the entire property.

My first thought was to invent and build something to spray water from my favorable vantage point. But wait! Why would I invent something? I’m definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed and there are much smarter people than me who have thought this through. Sure enough a quick YouTube search of wildfire prevention and a few affiliate link clicks later – sitting in my Amazon shopping cart were 2 Iron Owl rooftop fire sprinklers and 2 other rooftop sprinklers for wildfire embers for a total of 4 rooftop sprinklers. Each sprinkler is said to cover roughly 3,300 sq. ft with water, so in theory I should have plenty of coverage and I probably would have been fine with only two sprinklers. But.. in the words of Tim the Tool Man Taylor “More Power”!

I write this post as I not so patiently wait for the delivery of my supples. In my next post, I will review the Iron Owl rooftop sprinklers as well as the other rooftop sprinklers for wildfire embers.

As we wait, here is some great proactive reading from the state of California. Wildfire is coming… Are you Ready? https://www.readyforwildfire.org