Fire Gel May Protect Home From Blaze
Insurance company uses fire retardant gel to protect homes from wildfires.
Aug. 30, 2007 — -- Throughout the summer wildfires have threatened homes in the western United States, and now some of the country's wealthiest people are hoping an innovative plan will save their multimillion-dollar homes.
In Sun Valley, Idaho, a blaze has already burned 70 square miles. The fire is now 50 percent contained, but wind continues fanning the flames and now the fire is threatening the playground of the rich in Sun Valley and Ketchum, Idaho. Bill Gates, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood all have vacation homes there.
In order to protect some of the area's million-dollar homes, one insurance company has taken an innovative precaution by dousing them with a flame retardant spray.
"If we help to save a home that's $3 million, that's $3 million we don't have to spend on rebuilding the home," said AIG Private Client Group President Charles Williamson. "So there's clearly a benefit to us and the client."
Clients' homes are sprayed as well as their surrounding brush. And Williamson said barring heavy rains, the protection can last for months.
At least one homeowner said he was happy to have the option to use the fire gel.
"We were greatly relieved to have found these men knocking on our door," said homeowner Jim Figge.
Figge has lived in the Sun Valley since 1975 and said he is grateful for the protection.
"For us to potentially lose all of this would be just a tragedy to us," he said.
But products like the spray-on fire retardant gel aren't available only to the rich and famous. They are available across the country.
John Bartlett, a former firefighter and now president of Barricade International, which manufactures the gel, said homeowners can spray their property hours before a fire burns through the area.
"When it's safe to come back into the neighborhood, their home will be undamaged,"Bartlett said of homeowners who have to evacuate.
He said the fire gel is environmentally friendly and can be applied using a hose, though firefighters have their own system.
The product protects several surface types.
"It adheres to glass, under the eaves, vinyl siding -- all the critical areas of the house," Bartlett said.
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