CN113811369A

CN113811369A - Automatic mountain fire prevention and protection system for dwellings, buildings and property

Info

Publication number: CN113811369A
Application number: CN202080030599.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 哈利·亚伯拉罕·斯塔特
Original assignee: Has Co ltd
Current assignee: Has Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-02-28
Filing date: 2020-02-19
Publication date: 2021-12-17
Anticipated expiration: 2040-02-19
Also published as: CN117122839A; WO2020176309A1; EP3930858A1; EP3930858A4; CN113811369B; CA3130838A1; AU2020228019A1

Abstract

A fire retardant delivery system for use with a carrier source to prevent a mountain fire is provided. The system includes a flame retardant tank for storing a flame retardant. The flame retardant tank is in fluid communication with a carrier source. The metering valve is constructed and arranged to meter a flow of flame retardant expelled from the carrier source and injected into the carrier to maintain a predetermined ratio of flame retardant to carrier to produce a flame retardant and carrier mixture. At least one dispensing nozzle is configured to deliver the flame retardant and carrier mixture to a desired area.

Description

Automatic mountain fire prevention and protection system for dwellings, buildings and property

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This application is a partial continuation of U.S. patent application No. 15/804,040 filed on 6.11.2017, which is a partial continuation of U.S. patent application No. 14/080,326 filed on 14.11.2013 (now abandoned), which application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/726,066 filed on 14.11.2012, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein in their respective entireties.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to devices, techniques, and methods designed to protect buildings from mountain fires and to control mountain fire behavior and direction. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a fire protection and protection system for mixing, transferring and distributing fire retardants, if desired, into desired areas on and around exterior surfaces of buildings, or into specific areas, to block or redirect wildfires.

Background

Mountain fires throughout the united states are frequent and increasing in scale. Many authorities call 2018 to be the most severe mountain fire in the history of the united states. According toCalifornia forestry and fire department(CalFire) andnational cross-department fire center(NIFC) data, in california,mountain fire season of 2018The most deadly and destructive mountain fire season was recorded, a total of 8,527 fires with a burning area of 1,893,913 acres (766,439 hectares) which is the maximum burning area recorded during the season of the fire. The campu fire destroyed more than 18,000 buildings, becoming the most deadly and destructive mountain fire recorded in california.

Although the relationship between climate change and the incidence of mountain fires is predictable, the number of residences, buildings, and property at risk continues to increase. Over the past decade, almost 40% of the american households have been built in "town forest boundaries," areas where residential areas are adjacent to forests or grasslands.

This is particularly true in the midwestern united states where mountain fires destroy thousands of houses and other buildings. These fires cost approximately $ 30 million each year to extinguish, and this figure has not weighed the overall economic impact of these fires.

Accordingly, as drought conditions continue to spread, the risk of home damage from mountain fires is spread throughout all other forest areas or grasslands in the united states and other areas of the world. Thus, this is an unprecedented global risk.

As more and more homes and communities are built along the border between urban and forest areas, particularly in areas historically burned by mountain fires, correspondingly, more and more of these buildings are directly exposed to the risk of being damaged by mountain fires. This population and building trend, coupled with historical wood management practices that have resulted in increased forest fuel loads over the last decades, and the rapidly increasing drought conditions existing in the midwest region of the united states, has resulted in unprecedented numbers of buildings being exposed to the risk and destruction of mountain fires.

Under certain conditions, traditional methods of fighting a mountain fire may not work when a fire enters a town forest boundary area where residential quarters have been built. The forest fire fighters can usually only look around the arms and see that the house on the forest fire path is destroyed. During the past few years, it has become apparent that wildfire fighters cannot prevent wildfire from destroying communities, during which time many of the well-known wildfire have destroyed thousands of houses in the western united states (including arizona, california, idaho, nevada, texas, oklahoma, utah, and others).

The costs associated with fighting a mountain fire are negligible compared to houses and other buildings that are destroyed by the mountain fire. For example, the estimated loss of insurance from mountain fires in san Diego and san Bernedino counties, Calif. southern Calif. only, 2003, is more than 20 billion dollars, as stated by the U.S. insurance service bureau. With over 10 billion dollars being paid from a mountain fire-cedar big fire-which destroys 2,200 more residential and commercial buildings. Annual insurance losses from mountain fires in 2012 are certainly much higher, on a national scale, and have exceeded 50 billion dollars by the time of year. Global losses can be many times the number in the year, and the final statistic can be over $ 1,000 billion-this loss can take years to compensate.

According to the data of the national cross-department fire center, 66,131 mountain fires were totally initiated from 1 month 1 to 22 months 12 and 2017, while 2016 was initiated at 65,575. During 2017, approximately 980 ten thousand acres of land are burned, compared to 540 ten thousand acres in 2016.

In a napa fire in california that occurred in 2017 in 10 months, 8,900 buildings were burned. Forty-four people lost life from a fire. Insurance property losses are estimated to be $ 94 billion. The estimated insurance property loss does not include the cost of extinguishing a mountain fire.

In the tomas fire in 12 months of california, 2017, with 1,300 building losses, 23 million people were forced to evacuate. Fire causes death of both people. Insurance property damage is estimated to be $ 25 billion. In 2017, more than one hundred people die of portugal and spain from mountain fire.

In view of the great economic and environmental damage caused by mountain fires, people are increasingly interested in disaster reduction techniques for reducing the risks to communities and woodlands.

With respect to houses and commercial buildings, there are several mountain fire mitigation strategies that can be used to reduce the risk of mountain fire destroying residences, residences and buildings. These strategies include relatively simple measures such as the use of non-combustible materials during construction and the establishment of an effective "defensive space" around the premises located in the hazard zone or the removal of vegetation.

Many communities have adopted some programs within the community to reduce fuel loads around town forest boundaries by actively thinning shrubs and carefully managing controlled "burning". It is important to make community planning before building residential areas. It may be unwise to locate residential areas where mountain fires are highly likely to occur, which are not conducive to defensive space cleaning, bush cleaning or controlled burning.

Nevertheless, for aesthetic reasons, primarily, homes, commercial buildings and other structures are still built at the edges of urban areas where there is a greatest risk of mountain fires, even deep in forest areas. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a system that eliminates, reduces or at least significantly reduces the risk of mountain fires destroying buildings, such as houses, wherever they are built. The presently disclosed embodiments are directed to meeting this need.

Disclosure of Invention

One or more techniques may protect a building from a fire. The building may include a fire suppression system configured to protect the building and/or a desired area surrounding the building from a fire. One or more techniques may include determining that a desired area is threatened by a fire based on one or more factors. The one or more techniques may include activating the fire suppression system from an activation location, which may be remote from the wildfire suppression system, for example.

One or more techniques may protect a building from a fire. The building may include a fire suppression system configured to protect the building from a fire. One or more techniques may include monitoring a supply water pressure of the fire suppression system. The one or more techniques may include monitoring a supply water flow of the fire suppression system. The one or more techniques may include determining that the fire suppression system demand exceeds a threshold, such as may be based at least on the supply water pressure and/or the supply water flow. The one or more techniques may include, for example, varying a flow of a fire retardant of the fire suppression system to at least the first surface of the building, possibly upon determining that the fire suppression system demand exceeds a threshold.

One or more techniques may protect multiple buildings from fire. One or more or each of the plurality of buildings may include a fire suppression system, which may be configured to protect the one or more or each of the plurality of buildings from a fire. The one or more techniques may include monitoring a water supply pressure of one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems. The one or more techniques may include monitoring a supply water flow of one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems. The one or more techniques may include determining that a fire suppression system demand of one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems exceeds a threshold, possibly based on a water supply pressure of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems and/or a water supply flow of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems, for example. The one or more techniques may include determining which of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems directs the flow of fire retardant to at least one vertical surface of a building respectively associated with the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems. The one or more techniques may include, for example, varying the flow of fire retardant directed to the at least one vertical surface for one or more or each of the determined one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems, possibly upon determining that the fire suppression system demand exceeds a threshold.

One or more techniques may protect multiple buildings from fire. One or more or each of the plurality of buildings may include a fire suppression system, which may be configured to protect the one or more or each of the plurality of buildings from a fire. The one or more techniques may include determining a first set of one or more fire suppression systems proximate a perimeter of the active fire zone. The one or more techniques may include determining a second set of one or more fire suppression systems that may be, for example, further away from a perimeter of the active fire zone relative to the first set of one or more fire suppression systems. The one or more techniques may include varying a flow of water directed to the second set of one or more fire suppression systems.

One or more techniques may estimate a fire exposure risk for one or more of the geographic regions. The one or more techniques may include, for example, determining a first fire risk level for at least one of the one or more zones, possibly based on one or more current atmospheric conditions corresponding to the at least one zone. The one or more techniques may include, for example, determining one or more fire characteristics of the at least one region, possibly based on at least one image of the at least one region. The at least one image may be captured after a temporally recent past fire in or near the at least one region. The one or more techniques may include determining a number of fire suppression systems located in or near the at least one zone. One or more techniques may include determining one or more ash risk effects of the at least one region. The one or more techniques may include, for example, adjusting the first fire risk level to the second fire risk level, possibly based on the number of fire suppression systems, one or more ash risk effects, and/or one or more fire characteristics. The one or more techniques may include, for example, determining evacuation conditions, possibly based on the second fire risk level. One or more techniques may include communicating an evacuation condition to one or more recipients.

Drawings

The embodiments described herein will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become apparent when reference is made to the following detailed description of the embodiments taken in conjunction with the following drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a residential building and the area surrounding the building, illustrating one embodiment of a fire retardant dispensing system according to the present embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a schematic layout view of the fire retardant dispensing system shown in fig. 1 with the building removed to show the system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a primary system including a dispensing system, a storage system, and a control system, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a control system according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic top view of a perimeter flame retardant dispensing system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of another primary system including a dispensing system, a storage system, and a control system, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of another primary system including a dispensing system, a storage system, and a control system, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram of another primary system including a dispensing system, a storage system, and a control system, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7C is a schematic diagram of another primary system including a dispensing system, a storage system, and a control system, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7D is a schematic diagram of another primary system including a dispensing system, a storage system, and a control system, according to an embodiment.

Fig. 8A is a schematic diagram of a containment module according to one embodiment.

Fig. 8B is a schematic diagram of a containment module according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a control system according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary topographical view illustrating fire risk zone evaluation.

Fig. 11 is an exemplary diagram of a computer/processing device in which one or more concepts of the present disclosure may be implemented.

Detailed Description

In some embodiments, a fire retardant dispensing system for any type of building is disclosed, including residential, exterior, barn, commercial and other buildings and their associated surrounding landscapes, to name a few non-limiting examples. The system is designed to prevent a building from catching fire in the vicinity of a mountain fire and relies on a spray system that, when activated, can quench and coat the exterior of the building, deck and surrounding landscape very quickly with a fire retardant that remains on the surface until flushed away. In some embodiments, the system is self-contained and relies on a canister pressurized by a power source (e.g., inert gas, combustible fuel, electricity, gravity, pumps, or other power source) to deliver the fire retardant to injection valves located on and around the building. A power source is operably coupled to the fire retardant canister and the carrier source. In other embodiments, the power source for the system includes a water pipe that is pressurized by a municipal water supply system or the pumping mechanism of a water well to provide water and pressure to the system.

In some embodiments, power may not be required, but if an electrically powered control system is used, a backup battery system, uninterruptible power supply, or other local source of electrical energy may provide power. The system may be manually activated or may optionally include a control module that allows activation of the system in any manner including input manual activation, remote telemetry, and remote access (such as by DTMF telephone, mobile device application, or internet link, to name a few non-limiting examples). The system may be activated by remote access (e.g., using a satellite link). The system may be activated by/through one or more machines/devices or other non-human intervention. The one or more machines/devices may be self-learning. One or more machines/devices may learn (e.g., automatically) and/or may adjust upon determining that the system is active. For example, one or more machines/devices may learn and/or determine one or more activation triggers for system activation. One or more machines/devices may, for example, learn and/or determine a desired protection area that may be threatened by a fire, possibly based on one or more factors.

Other embodiments are directed to stopping or redirecting a wildfire and include a pump driven by a combustible compressed fuel, electricity or other power source, the pump connected to a reservoir of non-pressurized fire retardant, and a series of dispensing devices connected to the outflow of the pump. The dispensing device is positioned to spray fire retardant in a straight or arc that blocks the progression of a wildfire or blocks or redirects the fire in a desired manner. Several subsystems, each comprising a pump and associated distribution means, can be arranged in series so that fire retardant protection lines of several miles long can be quickly laid on the vegetation. This "flanking" technology allows wildfire fighters to control fire direction and behavior at key points (usually near the community).

Referring to fig. 1, 2 and 3, the fire retardant dispensing system 10 is schematically illustrated in a typical installation in a residential environment including a building 24, such as a typical residence located near a city-mountain fire interface. The system shown in fig. 1 and 2 is merely one illustrative example, and those skilled in the art will recognize from this disclosure that many other configurations are possible and will be configured according to the area that needs to be protected. In one embodiment, the desired area is defined as the area between a building and at least one historical location of origin of the fire. In one embodiment, the desired zone is defined based on temperature input from real-time remote telemetry 73. In one embodiment, the desired zone is defined based on relative humidity input from real-time remote telemetry 73. In one embodiment, the desired zone is defined based on wind pattern input from real-time remote telemetry 73. In one embodiment, the desired zones are defined based on historical fire data and/or historical fire patterns. In one embodiment, the desired area is defined based on a fuel distribution pattern (e.g., a flora and/or a building pattern). In one embodiment, the desired region is defined based on the perimeter of the (e.g., actively burning) fire. In one or more embodiments, the desired area may be defined based on one or more of the following: smoke detection, flame detection, fire gas detection, volume sensing, video imaging sensing, multi-modal object recognition, one or more occurrences of a building/house fire, and/or one or more occurrences of a fire burning within a (e.g., set and/or predetermined) radius. For example, the predetermined density of fuel that results in high combustion intensity may be associated with other characteristics, such as: red alarm days or temperatures, which also result in high combustion intensity, may indicate a higher population for fire triggering. Regardless of the density of the house and the possibility of burning, a pilot is required. Studying multimodal methods can find correlations between common variables to better define high risk areas/areas where fire suppression systems are installed.

The one or more monitoring/suppression techniques may include remote monitoring, activation (e.g., activation triggering), and/or mountain fire management. One or more monitoring/suppression techniques may remotely monitor a single building and/or an entire area having one or more buildings. For example, such remote monitoring may be accomplished without fire fighters being "on the ground". One or more monitoring/suppression techniques may take into account local conditions (e.g., wind and/or weather forecasts, etc.). One or more monitoring/suppression techniques may classify areas at risk of damage (e.g., highest risk) and/or exposure (e.g., severe and/or material exposure) to mountain fire activity.

One or more monitoring/suppression techniques may protect one or more areas and/or sites threatened by active mountain fires. For example, evidence suggests that ash can be a significant (e.g., major) cause of mountain fire spread and the consequent loss of life and/or destruction of property. For example, ash from an active mountain fire may travel over five miles, perhaps under appropriate conditions. Such ash may ignite a house/building/structure that may be considered to be in a low risk area. One or more monitoring/suppression techniques may monitor mountain fire activity in one or more regions and/or provide preventative mountain fire suppression in and/or near one or more regions.

The system 10 includes several different components or subsystems, including: a fluid-based dispensing system, generally shown at 12, including a conduit and nozzle system for delivering and applying a fire retardant to a surface; a carrier (e.g., water or other flame retardant carrier) and a flame retardant storage system, generally shown at 14, including a storage tank for storing the carrier and flame retardant, respectively, when the system is not in use, and a pressurization tank for pressurizing the system and associated hardware; and a control system, shown generally at 16 and generally including the equipment required to activate the dispensing system 10. Each of these components is described in detail below.

The system 10 shown in the figures illustrates a typical residential installation in which the system is configured to deliver a water-based fire retardant to the exterior surfaces of a building 24, to a deck 26 of the building, and to the surrounding area such as a landscape 28. In fig. 1, the building is shown located near the canyon region 30 to illustrate building protection and possible "side wing" distribution.

The distribution system 12 is shown separately in fig. 2 and includes a piping system 20 and a distribution nozzle connected to the piping at an engineering location. The distribution system 12 shown herein also includes a conduit 20 that extends to the edge of the canyon region 30. The type and size of the conduit 20 used in the dispensing system 12 depends on factors such as the size of the system and the amount of water and fire retardant to be delivered through the system. In general, any type of UV flame retardant piping will work well for the piping 20 used in the system 12, including, for example, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) piping, polyethylene piping, copper piping, galvanized piping, or steel piping, to name a few non-limiting examples. For certain combinations of metal pipe and flame retardant, care must be taken to avoid corrosion of the pipe by the particular flame retardant used. The diameter of the conduit 20 also depends on the volume of fire retardant delivered through the system and the operating pressure.

Conduit 20 and associated dispensing nozzle define dispensing system 12 for the fire retardant contained in storage system 14. As described below, the pipes are connected to various source tanks of the flame retardant, and are installed to the wall of a building or buried in the ground. In some embodiments, the conduit 20 is installed during the initial construction of the building 24 so that it can be installed "in-wall" beneath sheet rock or the like for aesthetic purposes. However, the system 10 may generally be retrofitted into existing buildings, in which case the duct 20 may run under the eaves or the like in as unobtrusive a manner as possible while maintaining convenient access for maintenance purposes.

The dispensing system 12 may include several different types of dispensing nozzles. Each nozzle has a specific purpose. For example, exterior wall nozzles 34 are strategically located along the perimeter of building 24 so that when the system is activated, the exterior surfaces of building 24 are coated with a fire retardant. Thus, wall nozzles 34 are mounted under the eaves or cornice of building 24 and are configured to direct a stream of sprayed flame retardant onto the exterior walls of the building. Six wall nozzles 34 are shown in fig. 1 and 2, but in order to uniformly coat the entire exterior wall surface area (or as much as possible depending on the application), as many wall nozzles are needed to install as many wall nozzles. In some embodiments, the wall nozzles 34 may be installed approximately every 30 linear feet along the length of the wall, but the spacing may be more or less depending on system design details.

Similarly, the system 10 shown in fig. 1 and 2 includes two deck nozzles 36 located about the deck 26. These deck nozzles spray the fire retardant onto the horizontal surface of the deck and may be of the type that rotates a full revolution if desired so that they also deliver the fire retardant to adjacent landscaping areas.

In fig. 1 and 2, four roof nozzles 38 are provided so that they spray the entire roof surface. The system 10 shown in fig. 2 includes nine individual landscape nozzles 40 located around the landscape 28, two of which (labeled 40a, 40b) are located near the canyon region 30. It should be appreciated that in some embodiments, the conduit 20 is buried underground in the landscape for a number of reasons, including aesthetics, climate protection, and damage control.

Each nozzle used by the system 10 is of a type suitable for a particular location. In some embodiments, wall nozzles 34 are generally atomizing nozzles or flat plate nozzles having a diameter of about 1/2 inches. In some embodiments, the nozzles are mounted under the eaves of the building such that the nozzles protrude from the eaves by approximately 1 and 1/2 inches. These nozzles may be plastic, stainless steel, or brass, to name a few non-limiting examples. In some embodiments, the nozzles do not rotate, but direct a spray, stream, arc, or mist directly onto a vertical wall of a building. However, in other embodiments, the nozzles may be configured to rotate as they are pressurized, thereby spraying the fire retardant onto adjacent surfaces, such as soffit, decks, and surrounding exterior floors.

In some embodiments, the deck nozzles 36 may be of the type commonly found in an underground irrigation system, such as pressure-ejecting rotary sprinkler nozzles. The nozzles may be arranged to rotate the entire 360 ° circle, or only a portion of the circle. In other embodiments, impact driven sprinkler nozzles may also be used for deck nozzles.

The roof nozzle 38 may be of the spray type or the impingement type. In many embodiments, all of the nozzles in system 10 are mounted so that they are hidden or minimally visible when not in use, so as not to detract from the aesthetics of building 24. Thus, the retractable type dispensing nozzle can be installed on the ground or in a special box, for example on the deck. Similarly, the roof nozzle 38 may be installed in a building feature on top of a roof, such as a roof or dormitory. Cupola furnaces can be built to include blow-out louvers and similar fittings that are blown out immediately when the fire retardant begins to be sprayed out of the nozzle. It is also possible to construct a cupola to accommodate retractable spray heads for roof top nozzles 38. Regardless of the type of nozzle used, there are sufficient roof nozzles 38 along the peaks and ridges of the building roof to adequately and uniformly coat the entire roof with fire retardant, thereby substantially preventing and protecting against potential wildfire damage.

Similarly, the landscape nozzles 40 are selected to be of a type appropriate for the particular location. In some embodiments a pressure operated retractable dispensing nozzle is used, but other dispensing heads work well. With respect to the two landscape nozzles 40a and 40b located near the edges of the canyon region 30, in some embodiments they are impact heads, or "gun" type agricultural heads, more commonly used for irrigating row crops.

In many embodiments, the dispensing system 12 is not filled with fire retardant when the system is not in use. In other words, when the system is not in use, the conduit 20 is empty. This eliminates the problem of freezing or corrosion of the flame retardant present in the pipe (in combination with which this is a problem).

The storage system 14 will now be described in detail with particular reference to fig. 3. In fig. 3, the dispensing system 12, the storage system 14 and the control system 16 are schematically shown. Storage system 14 includes one or more tanks of water or other carrier based fire retardant, a pressurization system, and control valves for operating the system. In particular, the storage system 14 shown in FIG. 3 generally utilizes a dual tank arrangement 50 and a single pressurized tank 52. In some cases, the dual tank arrangement will be modified to include a single tank or multiple dual tank arrangements. Alternatively, in some cases, as shown in fig. 6, the system relies on a carrier from a source other than a storage tank, such as a well, municipal water supply, pond, well, water tank, lake, or any other such water supply source for providing a carrier that is fluidly coupled with the fire retardant from the storage tank. Hereinafter, the tank device will be referred to as "double tank device 50". The dual tank device 50 contains water or other carrier and flame retardant and is divided for storage purposes into a carrier tank 51 and a flame retardant tank 53. During storage, the carrier and flame retardant are stored in an unpressurized state. The size and volume of the tank 50 varies depending on the size of the system 10. The dual tanks 50 are sized so that the tanks have sufficient volume to uniformly spray the desired volume of flame retardant mixture over the entire area to be covered by the system 10. A variety of tank types may be used for the dual tank arrangement 50. For example, the dual tank apparatus 50 may be fiberglass reinforced plastic, high density polyethylene or steel, suitably lined with a corrosion resistant material to prevent corrosion in the tank that would compromise the system fire suppression function. In a typical residential installation, the dual tank arrangement 50 has a combined capacity of about 100 to about 350 gallons or more. Larger tanks of up to 10,000 gallons or more may be used in large buildings, or in large area fire retardant spray sites or community based systems.

Certain classes of flame retardants that may be used in system 10 tend to delaminate or chemically separate over time, rendering them inactive or ineffective. Depending on the type of fire retardant used, the dual tank device 50 may be equipped with a stirrer, such as a bubbler or paddle mixer, to maintain the homogeneity and activity of the fire retardant or to be useful over a long period of time. A second sparging line (not shown) may extend from pressure tank 52 into flame retardant tank 50 to cause continuous or intermittent sparging of nitrogen or other gas (which is sufficiently chemically inert to be useful and practical) through the flame retardant to mix the flame retardant and thereby prevent delamination. Control system 16 may be configured to provide bubbling to the fire retardant tank itself when system 10 is activated or when stratification is suspected, or to prevent stratification by time-cycled operation.

The dual reservoir device 50 is mounted to a pressure tank 52 by a pressure line 54. A valve 56 is located in the pressure line 54 and, as described below, is connected to and operable under the control of the control system 16 by a control line 58. A pressure regulator 60 with a vent is provided to regulate the pressure in the pressure tank 52. A system flushing pipe 65 branches off from the pressure line 54 and is connected to the outlet pipe 62 upstream of the valve 64. A valve 67 is mounted in the flush tube 65. The system flushing pipe 65 is explained as follows.

In some embodiments, pressure tank 52 may be a commercially available cylinder or set of cylinders filled with an inert pressurized gas (e.g., nitrogen) that serves as the motive force for system 10 to deliver the water-based flame retardant to the various nozzles through conduit 20. The pressure tank 52 is of sufficient volume and is charged to an appropriate pressure such that when the system 10 is activated, all or a portion of the fire-retarding composition contained in the dual reservoir device 50 may be delivered through the nozzle at a suitable operating pressure for the system, which in some embodiments is about 50psi to 60 psi. A pressure regulator is typically used to regulate the operating pressure of the gas delivered from the pressure tank 52 to the dual reservoir unit 50 and the nozzle downstream of the tank 50. In some embodiments, the dual reservoir apparatus 50 can be pressurized to about 120psi or less.

Upon start-up of the system 10, the flame retardant and the carrier are mixed into a flame retardant and carrier mixture. The fire retardant contained in the dual tank arrangement 50 is delivered to the conduit 20 (fig. 2) of the dispensing system 12 through an outlet pipe 62. As described above, the valve 64 is installed into the outlet pipe 62 near the dual tank arrangement 50 via the control line 58 under the control of the control system 16.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the dual reservoir device 50 of FIG. 3 may be limited to a single or multiple reservoir fire retardant device, in which case the carrier is not contained within the reservoir. In such non-limiting examples, the carrier is provided by another source 55, such as a well, municipal water supply, pond, well, water tank, lake, or any other available source of carrier connected to one or more fire retardant tanks by piping. In such a non-limiting example, another carrier source is fluidly coupled to the single or multiple fire retardant tanks and delivered to the conduits of dispensing system 12 (fig. 2) through outlet pipe 62.

In the installation of system 10, storage system 14 in fig. 2 may be located in any suitable environment, such as a garage, HVAC zone, exterior building, or building pad.

It will be appreciated that the storage system 14 may utilize a plurality of dual tank arrangements 50 and a plurality of pressure tanks 52 if the size of the system 10 is sufficient to ensure the capacity achieved by the additional tanks.

The control system 16 (or activation system 16) is shown in schematic detail in fig. 4 and includes an activation switch 70, which is typically an electronic switch, such as a solenoid or mechanical relay, and an auxiliary power source 72, such as an external battery and/or an uninterruptible power supply module. Control system 16 is operatively coupled to, and operatively drives, the power source. The activation switch 70 is the main on/off switch for activating the system 10 and is typically powered by the building or site's power source. However, in the case of mountain fire, electric power from utilities and the like may be cut off. The auxiliary power supply 72 provides power to the activation switch 70 via line 74 to ensure that the activation switch 70 is energized in all circumstances, even if the external power supply has been interrupted. As previously described, the control line 58 interconnects the control system 16 with the valves 56 and 64, which are preferably electrically powered solenoid valves. Optionally, all of the valves described herein may be operated pneumatically, hydraulically, or manually, to name a few non-limiting examples, depending on the type of system used.

The activation switch 70 may operate under various input systems capable of activating the system 10. For example, switch 70 may be activated with a manual switch 75 located on (in or near) building 24. If a mountain fire is approaching the building, the manual switch 75 is activated to begin activating the system 10.

The activation switch 70 may further be operable via encoded remote activation/access 76, such as internet portal access, a mobile device application, or an encoded series of tones (e.g., DTMF tones generated by a telephone handset), as desired. Thus, the control system 16 may include a cable telephone system, a cellular telephone system, or a satellite telephone system, such that the switch 70 may be remotely operated by calling a particular telephone number and manually or automatically entering a code. The building owner, local fire department, etc. may use the code for remote access 76 by dialing a number, activating an application, or sending a code or signal as appropriate. The switch 70 may also be operated by an on-site detector 78, such as an infrared, smoke, temperature and/or other fire detector located around the building, or by a similarly located RF or IR or laser control device. For example, the infrared detector may be located near an edge of the canyon region 30. If a mountain fire is detected, the detector can activate the switch 70. Similarly, thermal sensors and other types of similar sensors may be located around or near a building, or near the edges of the canyon region 30, and configured to activate the system 10.

In some embodiments, the flame retardant used in system 10 is a liquid, gel, or powder that, when properly combined or mixed with water or other carrier, flows readily through the piping and nozzles. Because the flame retardant component may not be used for several years after the dual tank device 50 is filled, in some embodiments, the flame retardant is not susceptible to decreasing effectiveness over time. Because the fire retardant is sprayed on the building, in some embodiments, the fire retardant does not discolor the building surface, does not damage vegetation, and does not cause other environmental damage. A variety of flame retardants suitable for use in system 10 are commercially available and may be selected on a project by project basis. By way of non-limiting example, the flame retardant may include foam, class A foam, or fire fighting foam, and flame retardants sold under the brand names Buckeye Platinum class A foam fire suppressant, Barricade, Phos-Chek, TetraKO, and FireIce may also be used. In some embodiments, the flame retardant applied may be water only, applied from the beginning of the flame retardant application, or applied after the other flame retardant is exhausted by the system. Thus, as used herein, "flame retardant" is intended to include water, foam/water mixtures, or any other substance capable of suppressing or extinguishing a fire.

The operation of the system 10 will now be described in detail. When the system 10 is not in use or "idle," the fire retardant dual reservoir apparatus 50 is substantially filled with water or other suitable carrier and fire retardant, respectively, but is not pressurized; alternatively, the tank or tanks may be filled with the flame retardant and the suitable carrier provided by any other suitable carrier source (not within the tank or tanks). Valves 56, 64 and 67 are closed. The system 10 is activated in any of the ways detailed above. For purposes of illustration, in this case, it is assumed that the system 10 is installed in a residential building, and that the authorities have evacuated the residents of that building due to the threat posed by an approaching mountain fire. In other words, the system 10 is not activated until the building is evacuated. When the owner deems the building to be under the urge of a mountain fire, the owner accesses the system through the internet, a smart phone application, or dials the number of the coded remote activation/access 76 of the control system 16 on a WiFi portal, landline, cellular or satellite phone. The coded remote activation/access 76 is configured to respond to an incoming access signal and prompt the caller to activate the switch 70, i.e., rotate the switch 70 from the "off" position to the "on" position. For example, the encoded remote activation/access 76 may prompt the caller to enter an authorization code, such as a username and password or numeric code, to first ensure that the caller is authorized to give further indication to the system. The encoded remote activation/access 76 will then prompt if the correct username and password or numeric code is entered. The caller selects a particular activation code or option from a menu which may include a status check, input from a sensor, or activation of the activation switch 70. The authorization code may include a fingerprint and/or facial recognition.

When the caller enters the activation code, the control system 16 sends appropriate signals to the valves 56 and 64 (which are electrically operated valves, such as solenoid valves, as described above) to open the valves. When the valve 56 is opened, gas from the pressure tank 52 flows into and pressurizes the dual reservoir unit 50. With the valve 64 open, water and fire retardant begin to flow into the outlet pipe 62 under the pressure exerted by the gas from the pressure tank 52, and thus into the entire dispensing system 12. The ratio measurement of carrier and flame retardant is maintained by a preset pressure or other mixing system (e.g., syringe, venturi, injection pitot tube, etc.). The mixing system may include multiple injection points, venturi conduits, injection pitot tubes. The now mixed fire retardant rapidly flows into the conduit 20 and begins to be discharged from each nozzle in the system. Although the nozzles in the system are configured to apply the desired amount of flame retardant to the adjacent surface, typical application rates are in the range of 0.5 to 5 gallons per 100 square feet of surface. The desired amount may be calculated by the control system upon activation using input from a remote sensor or owner/operator. Furthermore, this application rate may vary depending on the type of flame retardant used.

The fire retardant is sprayed from the nozzle onto the desired surface until the entire volume contained in the dual reservoir device 50 is sprayed through the nozzle, or the system is deactivated by deactivating the switch 70, that is, the switch 70 is moved from the "on" position to the "off" position, depending on the type of switch selected by the design process. In this regard, in some embodiments, the pressure tank 52 contains sufficient pressurized gas to expel the entire contents of the fire retardant contained in the dual tank device 50 when the dual tank device 50 is full and to purge all of the fire retardant contained in all of the conduit lines in the dispensing system 12. Thus, if the system 10 remains activated until all of the fire retardant is discharged through the nozzle, gas from the pressure tank 52 will flush all of the fire retardant conduit lines.

Similarly, the activation switch 70 may be closed at any time after activation in any of the manners described above. When control system 16 deactivates system 10 (i.e., closes switch 70), both valves 56 and 64 are closed. If there is sufficient water and fire retardant in the dual reservoir unit 50, the activation switch may be turned off and then turned on again later.

The control system 16 can close the valves 56 and 64 at different times. For example, valve 56 may be closed before valve 64, allowing dual reservoir apparatus 50 to depressurize for a period of time. Valve 64 is then closed by control system 16. If deactivation is accomplished by using various types of coded remote activation/access 76 (as described above) before all of the water or fire retardant contained in the dual tank arrangement 50 has been drained through the system 10, the fire retardant mixture remaining in the piping 20 downstream of the dual tank arrangement 50 may be flushed to clear the piping in the system ready for the next use. This is achieved by opening valves 56 and 67 with valve 64 closed. Allowing valves 56 and 67 to remain open until all residual fire retardant has been discharged through the various nozzles.

In some embodiments, the fire retardant used in system 10 is of a type that will remain on the surface to which it is sprayed, providing continued protection against mountain fires until the residual fire retardant is washed away.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that certain modifications and additions may be made to the system 10 as described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the system may be designed to operate only manually, thereby omitting the control system 16. In this case, only one manually operated valve may be used in place of the valve 56 shown in the drawings, and the system is activated by manually opening the valve to deliver gas from the pressure tank to the dual reservoir arrangement 50. Also, a hose having a nozzle at one end may be connected to the dual tank device 50 to allow the mixed fire retardant to be manually sprayed to a specific location. Similar to a standard hose tap, a separate line can be installed to the system, allowing the firefighter to connect an external hose to the actual fire retardant supply. As another modification, large sprinkler "guns" such as impact heads may be installed at the tree roof level to provide greater coverage of the surrounding building. Furthermore, the entire community may be protected by a single large-scale facility along the pipeline. In this case, each building in the community can be individually protected by the system 10, and the community-surrounding system for delivering the fire retardant to the lines around the community can be effectively used.

Fig. 5 shows another embodiment. System 100 is of the type used to control the direction of a fire on the side of the fire or to prevent the fire from advancing in a particular direction, in which a series of "large gun" dispensing heads (such as those available from nalson irrigation company, inc., watra airport No. 848, usa, 99362-2271) are positioned to spray fire retardant in a line over a relatively long distance. In many areas, historical fire data is available, providing a reliable statistical indicator of the direction of propagation of a mountain fire. In other words, in any given area, a firefighter can reliably predict the direction and behavior of a mountain fire by relying on factors such as weather, wind patterns, fuel distribution, and historical fire data and/or historical fire patterns. The system 100 is used to surround a fire by laying long fire retardant lines that are intended to block the fire, or direct the fire away from residential areas, or towards areas that are more easily extinguished, etc.

In some embodiments, the system 100 relies on a compressed gas driven pump 102 driven by compressed gas delivered to the pump 102 through a line 104 interconnecting the pump to a suitable compressed gas tank 106. The pump 102 may be a diaphragm pump, such as an IRAROTM diaphragm pump (to name one non-limiting example) available from England fluid products corporation (airport business area lake, No. 170/175, Dublin Berlin Waals, Ireland), and may be powered by compressed nitrogen or air in the tank 106.

One or more containers 108 consisting of a plurality of dual reservoir devices 50 of a carrier or fire retardant are mounted to the pump 102 by conduits 110. Depending on the particular installation, these reservoirs 108 may be portable, or located above ground, underground, or remote from the pump 102, as may the tanks 106. A single outflow tube 112 from the pump 102 may be connected to a tee 114 and two branch lines 116, 118 extend from the tee. A plurality of spray distribution heads 120 are mounted in-line in branch lines 116 and 118-twelve distribution heads 120 are shown in the system 100 of fig. 5.

Each dispensing head 120 is preferably a "big gun" type of spray head configured to dispense a desired amount of fire retardant. In the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the system 100 is pressurized and the components are sized such that the fire retardant is sprayed from each dispensing head in a circle having a diameter of about 100 feet (dimension a in fig. 5). It should be appreciated that the length of the perimeter line defined by branch lines 116 and 118 may be as long as 1/4 miles and more, as indicated by dimension B in fig. 5. The area of the floor over which the system 100 distributes the fire retardant is shown by the dashed lines around the perimeter of the system.

Several systems 100 may be arranged in series to provide a protection line several miles in length, depending on the area to be protected. The system 100 may be advantageously used to deliver fire retardant to at least a portion of the perimeter of a residential neighborhood, particularly those perimeter areas most susceptible to being struck by mountain fires.

The system 100 comprises an activation device for activating the system, which may be of any of the types described above.

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a fire retardant delivery system 200 for preventing a mountain fire. The system 200 includes a housing module 201 (shown in detail in fig. 8) for holding at least some of the system components. In one embodiment, containment module 201 is approximately 48 inches long, approximately 30 inches wide, and approximately 30 inches high, and is carefully positioned along the sides of building 210 to be protected. In other embodiments, the housing module 201 may be any size suitable for the size of the building 210. In other embodiments, the housing module 201 may be located anywhere near the building 210. In some embodiments, more than one housing module 201 is included in the system 200. In other embodiments, the housing module 201 is not included. As shown in fig. 8, the housing module 201 includes a flame retardant tank 202. The flame retardant tank 202 contains a flame retardant. The housing module 201 also includes other devices operable to apply flame retardants. In one embodiment, the flame retardant is stored in an unpressurized state. In one embodiment, the flame retardant is at least one of a liquid, liquid foam concentrate, gel, or powder flame retardant. In one embodiment, the flame retardant is environmentally safe, non-toxic, and biodegradable. In one embodiment, the fire retardant tank 202 includes an agitator 205 to periodically agitate the fire retardant.

The fire retardant tank 202 is in fluid communication with a carrier source 204. The carrier source 204 discharges a stream of carrier that mixes with the flame retardant injected from the flame retardant tank 202 to produce a flame retardant and carrier mixture. In one embodiment, the carrier source 204 is selected from at least one of a water tank, a municipal water supply, a water well, a lake, and/or a pond. In the illustrated embodiment, the carrier source 204 is in fluid communication with the containment module 201 through a sleeve 206 at the building 210. Alternatively, the carrier source 204 may be in fluid communication with the housing module 201 through the building's water supply. In the illustrated embodiment, a hose 208 fluidly couples the sleeve 206 to the housing module 201. In other embodiments, any means for transporting the carrier, such as tubing, may be used to fluidly couple the cannula 206 or the carrier source 204 to the containment module 201. In one embodiment, an optional carrier valve (or set of valves) 209 may be positioned in fluid communication between the carrier source 204 and an injection port 217 extending from the containment module 201. The carrier valve 209 is operable to connect or disconnect the carrier source 204 to the injection port 217. In one embodiment, a backflow protection valve (not shown) may be included to prevent carrier contaminated with flame retardant from flowing back into carrier source 204. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8B, a booster pump 229 is provided in flow communication with the hose 208 to increase the flow of the carrier.

The injection of the flame retardant into the carrier to form a flame retardant and carrier mixture is accomplished through a metering valve 218 (described in more detail below). The fire retardant may be supplied from the fire retardant tank 202 to a metering valve 218 through a fire retardant valve (or set of valves) 212. In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 8, the fire retardant valve 212 may be located within or near the fire retardant tank 202. The control system 214 may be operably coupled to the flame retardant valve 212. In one embodiment, control system 214 is coupled to a sensor 216, such as a thermal sensor that detects the presence of a fire. In one embodiment, the control system 214 may operate to open the fire retardant valve 212 upon detection of a fire. When the flame retardant valve 212 is opened, the flame retardant flows through a metering valve 218 that injects the flame retardant into the hose 208 through an injection port 217. At least one check valve 231 prevents backflow of the flame retardant and carrier mixture into the containment module 201.

The metering valve 218 is constructed and arranged to meter the flow of the fire retardant into the carrier. In one embodiment, the metering valve 218 may be located within the housing module 201. In one embodiment, the metering valve 218 may be a Direct Current (DC) pump. In another embodiment, the metering valve 218 may be an Alternating Current (AC) pump. In one embodiment, the metering valve is a peristaltic pump. The metering valve 218 is configured to maintain a predetermined ratio of flame retardant to carrier in the flame retardant and carrier mixture. In one embodiment, metering valve 218 meters the flow of flame retardant into the carrier based on the amount of carrier flowing from carrier source 204. A flow meter 227 may be provided to measure the amount of carrier flowing from the carrier source 204. In particular, because carrier source 204 may not maintain the carrier at a uniform pressure, different amounts of carrier may flow from carrier source 204 at different times. The metering valve 218 adjusts the amount of flame retardant injected into the carrier to maintain the flame retardant and the ratio of flame retardant to carrier in the carrier mixture consistent at the desired dilution rate. In one embodiment, metering valve 218 is controlled by metering valve controller 219. Metering valve controller 219 receives information from flow meter 227 regarding the amount of carrier currently flowing from carrier source 204 and uses this information to control the rate at which metering valve 218 injects flame retardant into the carrier to form a flame retardant and carrier mixture. For example, in embodiments where the metering valve 218 is a pump, the metering valve controller 219 decelerates the pump when the flow meter 227 detects a decrease in the amount of carrier arriving from the carrier source 204, and vice versa. The fire retardant is then injected into the hose 208.

At least one dispensing nozzle 220 is positioned on or about the building 210 and is configured to deliver the flame retardant and carrier mixture to a desired area. In one embodiment, the nozzles 220 are strategically installed on the roof of the building 210 and under the eaves of the building 210 to facilitate the uniform application of the flame retardant and carrier mixture to all surfaces of the building 210, including decks, windows, and landscapes. In one embodiment, the nozzle 220 is mounted to the structure 210 in a manner that keeps the nozzle 220 relatively invisible. In one embodiment, the valve box 230 controls the flow of at least one of the flame retardant and the carrier to the dispensing nozzle 220. In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 7A, the flame retardant is injected into the carrier at the containment module 201 such that the valve box 230 controls the flow of the flame retardant and carrier mixture. In one embodiment shown in fig. 7B, the flame retardant is injected into the carrier downstream of the containment module 201 and upstream of the valve box 230, such that the valve box 230 controls the flow of the flame retardant and carrier mixture. In one embodiment shown in fig. 7C, the fire retardant is injected into the carrier downstream of the valve box 230 such that the valve box 230 only controls the flow of the carrier. In one embodiment shown in fig. 7D, the flame retardant is injected into the carrier at the valve box 230 such that the valve box 230 controls the flow of the flame retardant and the carrier. In other embodiments, the fire retardant may be injected into the carrier at a location near the top of the building and/or at the dispensing nozzle 220.

In one embodiment, system 200 includes an autonomous power source 222, such as a battery, that powers system 200. In one embodiment, power source 222 provides power to system 200 such that system 200 can operate without electrical transmission to a premise. In one embodiment, control system 214 and the entire system 200 may be controlled by a single autonomous power source. In one embodiment, a single backup power source powers both system 200 and control system 214. In one embodiment, at least one autonomous power source 222A is located within the housing module 201, as shown in fig. 8. In one embodiment, at least one autonomous power source 222B is located in control system 214, as shown in fig. 9. In other embodiments, the system does not require a separate power source 222 and is powered by water pressure provided by municipal water pipes or well-based water systems. In such embodiments, the valve box 230 (e.g., a proportioning valve or a proportional regulator) does not require external power because it is operated by the pressure of the water entering the proportional regulator. The proportioner can adjust the amount of foam concentrate or other fire retardant dispensed into the variable water stream.

In one embodiment, the system 200 may be activated by a cell phone, a smart phone application, a phone code, a computer login, and/or a direct button press, to name a few non-limiting examples. In one embodiment, the system 200 allows for remote activation by a home security or home automation system. In one embodiment, control system 214 enables two-way communication between system 200 and at least one of the devices listed above. In one embodiment, the modem 221 or other communication device enables two-way communication. As shown in fig. 8, the housing module 201 may include at least one modem 221A and at least one autonomous power supply 222A. The control system 214 is further illustrated in fig. 9. As shown in fig. 9, at least one modem 221B and at least one autonomous power supply 222B may be disposed within control system 214. In addition, a keypad 223 and connector 225 (described in detail below) for the zone valves may also be located within the control system 214. In one embodiment, the connector 225 may be housed in another housing separate from the control system 214. In one embodiment, system 200 is coupled to a burglar alarm to notify authorities of the presence of a fire.

In one embodiment, after the flame retardant is applied to the building 210, the flame retardant may be rehydrated multiple times during a mountain fire event and remain effective to protect the building for a predetermined period of time depending on ambient environmental conditions. After application, the fire retardant may be removed by using hoses, power washers, and/or any other device capable of spraying water.

In one embodiment, during operation, the system 200 may be installed as a carrier source 204 into a water supply of a building. In one embodiment, when the system is not activated, the carrier fills the system 200 up to the valve box 230. In particular, water flows down the hose 208 to the valve box 230 via the force of a city water pump or a rural water pump. When the system 200 is not activated, the vehicle in the system 200 is not mixed with the flame retardant. Upon activation of the system 200, the valve box 230 opens an outlet line 217 leading to the dispensing nozzle 220 and the carrier within the system 200 that is not mixed with the fire retardant flows through the dispensing nozzle 220 to allow water to flow through at least one area onto the building 210. Fresh water entering the system 200 is injected into the flame retardant from the flame retardant valve 212, proportionally injecting the flame retardant into the water stream at a predetermined dilution rate. The proportioning system can accommodate peaks and valleys in carrier flow rate as measured by flow meter 227 so that the flame retardant is injected into the carrier at a desired dilution rate. After injection, the flame retardant and carrier mixture is applied to the building 210 or landscape. The building 210 may have a plurality of areas through which the flame retardant and carrier mixture is applied. In one embodiment, the flame retardant and carrier mixture are applied one area at a time. In other embodiments, the flame retardant and carrier mixture may be applied to multiple zones simultaneously. The flame retardant and carrier mixture may be applied by spray heads, the type of spray head will vary depending on the location of the area, but may include irrigation rotors, spray heads and micro-irrigation spray head types of spray heads, to name a few non-limiting examples. All surfaces on the building 210 are treated with the flame retardant and carrier mixture, including the roof, walls, glass, eaves, and decks. The landscape area around the building 210 is also treated. In one embodiment, the flame retardant may be rehydrated multiple times. In another embodiment, only the roof and surrounding landscape is treated.

One or more devices, systems, and/or methods may include one or more hydraulic management techniques. For example, the one or more hydraulic management techniques may include monitoring and/or adjusting the hydraulic capacity of the water supply at and/or within an individual building 210. One or more or each fire monitoring/suppression system may have a flow meter and/or water pressure sensing device mounted at and/or downstream of the water supply connection point. Such a monitoring/fire suppression system may regulate the flow of fire retardant and/or carrier mixture to a higher risk area on building 210 (e.g., a roof surface), and/or to a higher risk area within an active mountain fire area, among other reasons, such as when the monitoring/fire suppression system demand exceeds the hydraulic capacity of the water supply. One or more hydraulic management techniques may be applied to one or more houses/buildings and/or one or more areas (e.g., not limited to a single house/building and/or area). For example, one or more hydraulic management techniques may manage hydraulic capacity throughout a mountain fire activity area.

For example, one or more hydraulic management techniques may reduce the flow of the flame retardant and/or carrier mixture to certain surface areas that are not susceptible to fire ash (e.g., vertical walls) and/or may direct the flame retardant and/or carrier mixture to continue and/or increase the flow on higher risk horizontal surfaces (e.g., roofs and/or decks). As used herein, the term "horizontal" may include a surface that is completely horizontal, and/or may not be completely horizontal (e.g., may have a non-vertical slope, such as a sloped roof, etc.).

For example, on a regional basis (e.g., an active fire zone), if there are twenty systems operating, there may be at least fifteen systems processing horizontal surfaces (e.g., high risk surfaces), while there may be five systems processing vertical surfaces (e.g., low risk surfaces) (e.g., where one or more systems may be the same as fifteen systems, and/or where one or more systems may be different than fifteen systems). There may not be enough flow and/or pressure to fully operate most or all of the twenty systems. One or more hydraulic management techniques may throttle (e.g., reduce flow, possibly even substantially zero flow) the flow of the flame retardant and/or carrier mixture to one or more or all vertical surfaces, which may maintain and/or increase flow to one or more or all horizontal surfaces. One or more hydraulic management techniques may increase and/or maintain the flow of water and/or fire retardant to areas/fire suppression systems closer to the perimeter of a wildfire area (e.g., an active fire area), and/or may decrease the flow of water and/or fire retardant to areas/fire suppression systems further from the perimeter of the wildfire area. In one embodiment, the fire department may create a polygon on a map displayed on an input screen of a control system operable to control a plurality of the presently disclosed systems and execute commands that activate all of the systems located within the area contained within the polygon, and such systems would then be subject to the hierarchy of hydraulic management disclosed herein.

An apparatus, system, and/or method that can protect a building from mountain fires and/or other risks of fire may be useful. Apparatuses, systems and/or methods that not only protect a building from mountain fire and/or other fire risks, but also produce a "protective effect" on one or more surrounding buildings may be useful. For example, an accident commander system, such as (or including) one of the control systems disclosed herein, may be used by a fire service to initiate an instant geo-referenced event at an accident site. For example, if the incident is a building fire (inside or outside), this will cause the control system to automatically activate the fire suppression systems on either side of the burning building. By doing so, the adjacent building will be immediately cooled so that the burning point will not be reached. In another example, a grid is created by having a network of fire suppression systems under the control of the control system disclosed herein, wherein when one fire suppression system is activated, the other fire suppression systems under the control of the control system are thereby activated according to predetermined rules contained in the control system. Fig. 11 and the following description provide additional details of such a control system.

Devices, systems, and/or methods implementing one or more algorithms that may identify one or more geographic areas that possess (e.g., varying) degrees of mountain fire exposure, may identify one or more risk/exposure radii from mountain fire to the public, and/or may identify one or more areas that are more protected by mountain fire than other areas may be useful. For example, the output of such one or more algorithms may be used by state and/or federal governments to establish an accurate radius for public health and/or safety mountain fires. Also by way of example, an insurance company may use the output of such one or more algorithms to determine portfolio risk exposure and/or risk reduction.

One or more algorithms may rank fire risk levels for one or more (e.g., individual) buildings and/or areas (e.g., of different sizes), possibly with much higher accuracy than conventional tools. The output of one or more ranking algorithms (and/or the algorithms themselves) may be useful to insurance companies, federal governments, state/local governments, municipalities, fire zones, real estate agents, companies providing fire risk ranking systems, and/or companies providing mountain fire mitigation services.

For example, an insurance company may use the output of one or more algorithms to (e.g., better) set insurance prices, and/or reduce operational costs associated with risk identification. For example, federal, state/local, fire zone, and/or municipality may use the output of one or more algorithms to determine (e.g., more accurate) evacuation trigger points to maintain public health and/or safety. One or more private fire departments may use the output of one or more algorithms to identify potential customers in the area of mountain fire exposure. The output of one or more algorithms may be used by public/private agencies for other natural disaster scenario analysis, possibly in addition to fire analysis.

Currently, insurance companies and/or suppliers to the insurance industry may use geographic information and/or weighting algorithms to assess fire risk. The accuracy of the currently used techniques is questionable. Many currently used techniques operate without knowing their respective accuracy. Currently used techniques may not use historical information to identify whether their algorithms are accurate. Thus, currently used techniques may not have any feedback loops to rearm/tune the respective algorithms. For example, currently used techniques often find houses that are burned out to be marked as safe. The currently used technology should not mark these premises as safe and should already know (e.g., via a feedback loop) that these premises have been burned.

One or more algorithms disclosed herein may yield a higher level of accuracy in determining the exposure area. One or more algorithms disclosed herein may include one or more feedback loops to verify algorithm accuracy and/or automatically readjust/adjust algorithm accuracy.

One or more of the algorithms disclosed herein may derive one or more currently available fire risk levels. One or more algorithms may incorporate such ordering into the algorithms, and/or may add one or more factors, which may make the one or more algorithms (e.g., significantly) more accurate than existing and/or previous approaches.

The one or more algorithms may include one or more feedback loops. One or more feedback loops may include a review, analysis, and correction of the algorithm after one or more or each fire. The information and/or data provided from the one or more feedback loops may be included in a (e.g., dynamic) evolution of the one or more algorithms. For example, the ranking produced by at least some of the one or more algorithms may be improved by image processing using a map.

The one or more algorithms may include ash risk effects and/or may use simulated scenarios to identify the response of the building and/or its surroundings to such events.

One or more algorithms may implement one or more public safety mechanisms to identify one or more geographic locations or points from which fire services or federal, state, and/or local government officials may activate evacuation procedures or in-situ evacuation procedures. One or more public safety mechanisms may help identify fire protection and monitoring systems, and/or the risk mitigation effects of such systems on the lives and safety of civilians and/or first responders, and/or the risk mitigation effects on nearby buildings. One or more algorithms may be developed continuously and/or dynamically using information/data provided by one or more feedback loops.

The one or more algorithms may include at least one module that (e.g., automatically) identifies a fire event. For example, a fire event may be identified by architected (e.g., established) data sources and/or non-architected internet public data collection information/data (e.g., personal data that may include people in social media that are affected by the fire). Such information may be used (e.g., possibly with artificial intelligence) to establish one or more machine learning cycles.

For example, the geographical reference location of the fire perimeter may be defined in a map available to the control system. However, because ash falls on adjacent buildings, the buildings typically burn outside the perimeter of these fires. The control system may also have access to data (e.g., local, state, and/or federal government data) that identifies and records the geographic reference location of the building burning in the fire. By overlaying the location of the fire perimeter over the location of the building's combustion, the control system obtains a true representation of the mountain fire ash effect. In some cases, these ashes may fall five miles away from the fire perimeter. This is an analysis that helps to understand which buildings will be damaged by a fire if it should happen.

As another example, the control system algorithm may compare two sets of data, such as geo-referenced fire surrounding data and population data, and determine a correlation between the population and the occurrence of a fire event. Thus, the control system will know where fires are more likely to occur based on the population in the monitored area.

As a further example, the control system algorithms may perform fire suppression analyses based on the available infrastructure (e.g., the number and size of roads that provide access to the area to enable personnel to actually reach the fire scene) and/or the availability of aircraft/vehicles that are operable to suppress fire, and determine correlations between the success of suppression actions based on access to such infrastructure. Such data may further be associated with other variables, such as time of year, or past, present, or predicted future weather events for the area.

As another example, the control system algorithm may analyze historical data (i.e., critical fire quality) per square foot/acre of combustible material to determine the probability of a fire if the area is not suppressed for some time of the year (based on historical weather patterns), which allows for the prediction of the size of civilian and building populations threatened by the fire.

By providing a control system algorithm capable of such analysis, in some embodiments as part of a search query mechanism, and operating on the basis of a self-learning algorithm, the system can provide predictability of exposure to civilian population, house, and infrastructure fires.

In one or more techniques, computing device 1104 and/or control system 214 may be configured to determine one or more activation triggers of any of the fire suppression systems described herein. Computing device 1104 and/or control system 214 can perform reconfiguration of computing device 1104 and/or control system 214, for example, using information and/or data. In one or more techniques, computing device 1104 and/or control system 214 may be configured to determine one or more adjusted activation triggers, e.g., possibly based on reconfiguration.

Also by way of example, at least one module may identify one or more houses/buildings that are within fire range and/or in danger of fire damage/destruction and that are preserved or not burned (e.g., for known or unknown reasons). The 43 houses/buildings may be marked and/or reminded with some kind of notification (e.g., an alert or notification that "you are happy", etc.). Such alerts and/or notifications may be transmitted via communications (e.g., emails, government mails, private messengers, text messages, and/or phone calls, etc.). Alerts and/or notifications may inform such house/building/owner/renter/lessee of the building/etc that their property is at risk and for whatever reason their property has not been damaged (e.g., "you went this time" alert, etc.). The alerts and/or notifications may prompt and/or motivate owners/leaseholders/lessees and the like to protect themselves from future risks that may cause damage/destruction of their property and/or personal injury. Information on exposure to mountain fire is a central component of creating a safer civilian environment.

FIG. 10 includes an example topographical map indicating a fire risk zone assessment. In FIG. 10, the potential fire risk zone 1002-1014 is shown. If a building burns without a mountain fire, there are fire fighting resources to protect the building. When one building burns during a mountain fire, or multiple buildings burn during a mountain fire, the exposure is so great that traditional fire fighting resources and capabilities simply cannot keep up with. The presently disclosed embodiments provide an automated system to alleviate this limitation of traditional fire fighting resources.

The potential fire risks may be the same or substantially similar between at least some of the areas 1002-1014 and/or may be different or significantly different between at least some of the areas 1002-1014. For example, zone 1002 may have a fire likelihood rating of 85%, zone 1004 may have a fire likelihood rating of 85%, zone 1006 may have a fire likelihood rating of 50%, zone 1008 may have a fire likelihood rating of 42%, zone 1010 may have a fire likelihood rating of 94%, zone 1012 may have a fire likelihood rating of 88%, and/or zone 1014 may have a fire likelihood rating of 60% (a 0-100% scale depicting fire likelihood ratings is used by way of example and not limitation).

One or more techniques for estimating fire exposure risk of one or more of the geographic regions may include, for example, determining a first fire risk level for at least one of the one or more regions, possibly based on one or more current atmospheric conditions corresponding to the at least one region. The one or more techniques may include determining one or more fire characteristics of the at least one zone. For example, a historical pattern of fires may occur approximately every 80 years at a similar general location within the area identified in FIG. 10, or within a 5 mile radius of the area identified in FIG. 10. As another consideration for this analysis, the number of general civilian populations and infrastructure for the area identified in fig. 10 may be below the existing level for the area 80 years ago. This is a limiting example of the evolution of fire characteristics and the varying degrees of exposure that result. For example, it may be possible, based on at least one image of the at least one area, that the composition of known buildings (residential and commercial) have a density and arrangement such that when a plurality of such buildings are exposed to the ash effects of a mountain fire burning within a 5 mile radius of an area whose amount exceeds the capabilities of the fire-fighting resources given the available fire-fighting resources.

One or more techniques may include determining a number of fire suppression systems located in or near the at least one zone, which may provide additional suppression capability, thereby reducing the likelihood of building loss. One or more techniques may include determining one or more ash risk effects of the at least one region based on at least one image captured after a (e.g., temporally) recent past fire in or near the at least one region. For example, the image may include a map image of the fire perimeter of the recent past fire. It is likely that many buildings outside the perimeter of these fires may also be burned. Local, state, and/or federal government data identify and make geographic references to the location where a building will burn in a fire. By superimposing the location of the fire perimeter over the location of the building's burning, a true representation of the mountain fire ash effect is produced, and it is determined that burning ash falls five miles away from the fire perimeter, threatening to far exceed the number and number of buildings contained within the fire perimeter. The actual exposure to mountain fires is further determined by the density and arrangement of these premises, which relates the size of the fire to the distance the ash travels and the subsequent exposure to civilian populations and buildings.

As a further example, analysis of the data typically reveals correlations between populations and the occurrence of fire events. This is a valuable analysis of where a fire may have started based on population and historical fire events.

One can further analyze the success of the fire suppression action based on available infrastructure that enables personnel to actually reach the fire scene, or a man-made aircraft/vehicle used to suppress the fire, and see the correlation between the success of the fire suppression action based on the visit. The relevance of the data may also be analyzed based on time of year or weather events.

As another example, based on further analysis of historical data of square feet/acre of combustible material (i.e., critical fire quality) to determine the probability of a fire if the area is not suppressed for some time of the year (based on historical weather patterns), this allows for the prediction of the size of civilian and building populations threatened by the fire.

By performing such an analysis, as part of the search query mechanism and operating on the basis of self-learning algorithms, in some embodiments, the predictability of exposure to civilian populations, households, and infrastructure will increase, and devices, systems, and/or methods may be controlled to create civilian safety and protection, including infrastructure.

The one or more techniques may include, for example, adjusting the first fire risk level to the second fire risk level, possibly based on one or more of a number of fire suppression systems, one or more ash risk effects, and/or one or more fire characteristics. One or more techniques may include determining evacuation conditions based on the second fire risk level. One or more techniques may include communicating an evacuation condition to one or more recipients. The evacuation condition may include determining a second fire risk level evacuation trigger threshold.

The one or more techniques may include determining an effect of a recently extinguished fire on at least one building in or near the at least one area. The one or more techniques may include comparing an impact of the recently extinguished fire on the at least one building to a second fire risk level. The one or more techniques may include determining a predictive risk assessment for the at least one building based on the comparison. For example, a building that is in or near an area with a higher fire risk level that suffers little or no fire damage may result in a predicted risk assessment of "low" or "abnormal" (e.g., an assessment that the building suffers little actual/confirmed fire damage despite the relatively higher fire risk level). For example, in or near areas where the fire risk level is high, significant damage to the building may result in a "high" or "expected" predictive risk assessment (e.g., where the fire risk level is relatively high, the building is significantly damaged, if not completely lost by the fire). In other words, the predictive risk assessment may be a measurement, assessment, and/or comparison of a fire risk level (e.g., for a building and/or area) to an actual/confirmed fire hazard (e.g., for a building and/or area).

By way of further example, if a first zone having a relatively low fire risk level experiences little or no fire damage, the predicted risk assessment for a recent fire in or near the first zone may be one or more of "high," "expected," "acceptable," and/or "normal," etc. Also by way of example, if the first building has a relatively low fire risk rating and has experienced significant damage, the predicted risk assessment of the recent fire in and/or near the first building may be one or more of "low," "unexpected," "unacceptable," and/or "abnormal," etc. The one or more techniques may include, for example, communicating a predicted risk assessment for the at least one building and/or area to an owner of the at least one building, and/or an owner of one or more buildings in the area.

The one or more techniques may include determining, from an internet-based social media system, one or more indicators of a current fire in or near the at least one area. For example, a fire may spread at such a fast rate that the satellite image or infrared image may be too slow to catch up with identifying locations around the fire, or where blobs are occurring, where a new blob fire is burning. Various social media platforms, e.g.

To name but one non-limiting example, is where individuals quickly share fire information. An algorithm may analyze the fire references in such social media posts and quickly compile a geo-referenced map reporting the fire. In addition, mobile device applications may be distributed to the general public, which would allow users to easily report fires using the application, perhaps with the application automatically geo-referencing the reported fire using the GPS location of the mobile device. The one or more techniques may include adjusting the second fire risk level based on the one or more indicators.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary computer (e.g., processing) device 1104 (which may be incorporated within and/or proximate to control system 16 and/or within and/or proximate to remote activation/access 76), wherein one or more of the devices, methods, and/or systems disclosed herein may be at least partially implemented. In fig. 11, computer device 1104 may include one or more of the following: a processor 1132, a transceiver 1112, a transmit/receive element (e.g., an antenna) 1114, a speaker 1116, a microphone 1118, an audio interface (e.g., a headphone interface and/or an audio cable jack) 1120, a keypad/keyboard 1122, one or more input/output devices 1124, a display/touchpad/touchscreen 1126, one or more sensor devices 1128, Global Positioning System (GPS)/positioning circuitry 1130, a network interface 1134, a video interface 1136, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface 1138, an optical interface 1140, a wireless interface 1142, a home (e.g., non-removable) memory 1144, a removable memory 1146, a home (e.g., removable or non-removable) power supply 1148, and/or a power supply interface 1150 (e.g., a power/data cable jack). Computing device 1104 may include one or more, or any subcombination, of the elements described above.

Computing device 1104 can take the form of a laptop computer, a desktop computer, one or more circuit boards, a host computer, a server, a terminal, a tablet, a smartphone, and/or a cloud-based computing device (e.g., at least in part), and/or the like.

Processor 1132 may be a general-purpose processor, a special-purpose processor, a conventional processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of Integrated Circuit (IC), and/or a finite state machine, etc. Processor 1132 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, sensor control, interface control, video control, audio control, input/output processing, and/or enable computing device 1104 to function as and/or perform (e.g., at least in part) any other function of one or more devices, methods, and/or systems disclosed herein.

Processor 1132 may be connected to transceiver 1112, which may be connected to transmit/receive element 1124. Processor 1132 and transceiver 1112 may operate as separate components connected as shown. Processor 1132 and transceiver 1112 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip (not shown).

The transmit/receive element 1114 may be configured to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from one or more wireless transmit/receive sources (not shown). For example, the transmit/receive element 1114 may be an antenna configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals, cellular signals, or satellite signals. For example, the transmit/receive element 1114 may be an emitter/detector configured to emit and/or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals. The transmit/receive element 1114 may be configured to transmit and/or receive RF and/or optical signals. The transmit/receive element 1114 may be configured to transmit and/or receive any combination of wireless signals.

Although transmit/receive element 1114 is illustrated as a single element, computing device 1104 may include any number of transmit/receive elements 1114 (e.g., as with any of elements 1112-1150). Computing device 1104 may employ multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. For example, computing device 1104 may include two or more transmit/receive elements 1114 for transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals.

The transceiver 1112 may be configured to modulate signals to be transmitted by the transmit/receive element 1114 and/or demodulate signals received by the transmit/receive element 1114. The transceiver 1112 may include multiple transceivers to enable the computing device 1104 to communicate via one or more radio access technologies, such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), and/or IEEE802.11 and/or satellites.

The processor 1132 may be connected to, may receive user input data from, and/or may transmit (e.g., as output) user data to, or from, the speaker 1116, the microphone 1118, the keypad/keyboard 1122, and/or the display/touchpad/touchscreen 1126 (e.g., a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display unit or an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display unit, etc.). Processor 1132 may retrieve and/or store information/data from/in any type of suitable memory (e.g., in-situ memory 1144 and/or removable memory 1146). In-situ memory 1144 may include Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, and/or a hard disk and/or any other type of memory device.

The removable memory 1146 may include a subscriber identification module card (SIM), a portable hard drive, a memory stick, and/or a Secure Digital (SD) memory card, among others. Processor 1132 may retrieve and/or store information/data from/in memory that may not be physically located on computing device 1104, such as on a server, cloud, and/or home computer (not shown).

One or more of the

components

1112, 1146 may receive power from the in situ power source 1148. In situ power supply 1148 may be configured to distribute and/or control power to one or

more elements

1112 and 1146 of computing device 1104. In situ power supply 1148 may be any suitable device for powering computing device 1104. For example, the in situ power source 1148 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, and/or fuel cells, among others.

Power interface 1150 may include an outlet and/or a power adapter (e.g., a transformer, regulator, and/or rectifier) that may receive power from an external source via one or more AC and/or DC power cables and/or via wireless power transmission. Any power received via power interface 1150 may energize one or

more elements

1112 and 1146 of computing device 1104, such as may be provided exclusively or in parallel with in-situ power supply 1148. Any power received via power interface 1150 (e.g., solar panels, micro water turbines, micro wind turbines, battery packs, or generators) may be used to charge the in situ power source 1148.

Processor 1132 may be connected to GPS/location circuit 1130, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and/or latitude) regarding the current location of computing device 1104. Computing device 1104 may obtain location information by any suitable location determination technique.

Processor 1132 may be connected to one or more input/output devices 1124, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wired and/or wireless connections. For example, the one or more input/output devices 1124 may include a digital camera (e.g., for photos and/or videos), a hands-free headset, a digital music player, a media player, a Frequency Modulation (FM) radio, an internet browser and/or video game player module, and/or the like.

Processor 1132 may be connected to one or more sensor devices 1128, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wired and/or wireless connections. For example, the one or more sensor devices 1128 can include an accelerometer, an electronic compass, a vibrating device, a sonar, and the like.

Processor 1132 may be connected to a network interface 1134, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wireless and/or wired connections. For example, network interface 1134 may include a Network Interface Controller (NIC) module, a Local Area Network (LAN) module, an ethernet module, a Physical Network Interface (PNI) module, and/or an IEEE802 module, among others.

Processor 1132 may be connected to a video interface 1136, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wired and/or wireless connections. For example, video interface 1136 may include a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) module, a Digital Visual Interface (DVI) module, a Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA) module, and/or a Video Graphics Array (VGA) module, among others.

Processor 1132 may be connected to a USB interface 1138, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wired and/or wireless connections. For example, the USB interface 1138 may include a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port or the like.

Processor 1132 may be connected to an optical interface 1140, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wired and/or wireless connections. For example, optical interface 1140 may include a read/write optical disc module, a read/write Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) module, and/or a read/write Blu-ray (TM) optical disc module, among others.

Processor 1132 may be connected to a wireless interface 1142, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and/or wireless connectivity. For example, the wireless interface 1142 may include

A module, an ultra-wideband (UWB) module, a zigbee module, and/or a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) module, and/or the like.

In one or more techniques, the device 1104, the control system 16, and/or the remote activation/access 76 may (e.g., constantly) assess the fire risk of one or more or each building and/or area, possibly based on data available to the device 1104, the control system 16, and/or the remote activation/access 76 (e.g., as described herein). Device 1104, control system 16, and/or remote activation/access 76 may be configured to determine which fire suppression system(s) to activate. Device 1104, control system 16, and/or remote activation/access 76 may be configured to activate (e.g., remotely) the determined suppression system. In one or more techniques, such activation may be automatic and/or may include a supervisory input. For example, based on a particular fire risk, a fire suppression system may be activated when a fire burning within a particular radius of the system is detected.

Although the present embodiments have been described in accordance with several embodiments shown, one of ordinary skill will appreciate that the spirit and scope of the embodiments is not limited to these embodiments, but extends to various modifications and equivalents as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method of protecting a building from a fire, the building including a fire suppression system configured to protect the building and a desired area surrounding the building from the fire, the method comprising:

determining that at least the building is threatened by a fire based on one or more factors; and

activating the fire suppression system from an activation location remote from the fire suppression system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that at least the building is threatened by a fire is performed at a determined location remote from the fire suppression system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors include a historical fire pattern of an area proximate the building.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors include a fuel distribution pattern of an area proximate the building, the fuel distribution pattern including a fuel distribution pattern of at least one of: plant communities or architectural patterns.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors include a perimeter of a currently burning fire.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors comprise at least one of: smoke detection, flame detection, or fire gas detection.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors comprise at least one of: volume sensing, video imaging sensing, or multi-modal object recognition.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors include an occurrence of one or more fires burning within at least a set radius of the building.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating comprises remote access via a satellite link.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating comprises using an authorization code comprising at least one of: fingerprint or facial recognition.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating is performed by a device configured to determine one or more activation triggers.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the desired area is threatened by a fire based on one or more factors is performed by the device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing information and/or data to the device;

the device performs its own reconfiguration using the information and/or data; and

the device determines an adjusted one or more activation triggers based on the reconfiguration.

14. A method of protecting a building from a fire, the building including a fire suppression system configured to protect the building from the fire, the method comprising:

monitoring at least one of: the water supply pressure of the fire suppression system or the water supply flow of the fire suppression system;

determining that the fire suppression system demand exceeds a threshold based on at least one of: the supply water pressure or the supply water flow rate; and

upon determining that the fire suppression system demand exceeds the threshold, changing a flow of a fire retardant of the fire suppression system to at least a first surface of the building.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the threshold value corresponds to a hydraulic capacity of the fire suppression system.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein altering the flux of the flame retardant to the first surface comprises reducing the flux of the flame retardant to the first surface.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first surface is a vertical surface of the building.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

maintaining flow of the fire retardant of the fire suppression system to at least a second surface of the building upon determining that the fire suppression system demand exceeds the threshold.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the second surface is a horizontal surface of the building.

20. A method of protecting a plurality of buildings from a fire, each of the plurality of buildings including a fire suppression system configured to protect each of the plurality of buildings from a fire, the method comprising:

monitoring at least one of: a water supply pressure of one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems or a water supply flow rate of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems;

determining that a fire suppression system demand of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems exceeds a threshold based on at least one of: the water supply pressure of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems or the water supply flow rate of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems;

determining which of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems directs fire retardant flow to at least one vertical surface of a building respectively associated with the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems; and

upon determining that the fire suppression system demand exceeds the threshold, for each of the determined one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems, changing the flow of flame retardant directed to the at least one vertical surface.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein for each of the determined one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems, varying the flow of flame retardant directed to the at least one vertical surface comprises, for each of the determined one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems, reducing the flow of flame retardant directed to the at least one vertical surface.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining which of the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems directs fire retardant flow to at least one horizontal surface of a building respectively associated with the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems; and

maintaining the flame retardant flow directed to the at least one horizontal surface for each of the determined one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems upon determining that the fire suppression system demand exceeds the threshold.

23. A method of protecting a plurality of buildings from a fire, each of the plurality of buildings including a fire suppression system configured to protect each of the plurality of buildings from a fire, the method comprising:

determining a first set of one or more fire suppression systems proximate a perimeter of an active fire zone;

determining a second set of one or more fire suppression systems that are further away from the perimeter of the active fire zone relative to the first set of one or more fire suppression systems; and

varying a flow of fire retardant directed to the second group of one or more fire suppression systems.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein varying the flame retardant flow directed to the second group of one or more fire suppression systems comprises reducing the flame retardant flow directed to the second group of one or more fire suppression systems.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

maintaining a flow of fire retardant directed to the first group of one or more fire suppression systems.

26. A method of estimating fire exposure risk for one or more of a geographic area, the method comprising:

determining a first fire risk level for at least one of the one or more zones based on one or more current atmospheric conditions corresponding to the at least one zone;

determining one or more fire characteristics of the at least one region, the one or more fire characteristics associated at least in part with at least one image of the at least one region, the at least one image captured after a temporally recent past fire in or near the at least one region;

determining a number of fire suppression systems located in or near the at least one zone;

determining one or more ash risk effects for the at least one region;

adjusting the first fire risk level to a second fire risk level based on one or more of: the number of the fire suppression systems, the one or more ash risk effects, or the one or more fire characteristics;

determining, based on the second fire risk level, at least one of: evacuation conditions or in-situ refuge conditions; and

transmitting the at least one of the following to one or more recipients: the evacuation condition or the in situ refuge condition.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the evacuation condition comprises determining an evacuation trigger threshold.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining an effect of a recently extinguished fire on at least one building in or near the at least one area;

comparing the impact of the recently extinguished fire on the at least one building to the second fire risk level;

determining a predictive risk assessment for the at least one building based on the comparison; and

communicating the predictive risk assessment for the at least one building to at least one party associated with the at least one building.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining, from an internet-based social media system, one or more indicators of a currently burning fire in or near the at least one area; and

adjusting the second fire risk level based on the one or more indicators.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the one or more recipients are at least one of: a building owner, a state government, a fire agency, a local government, a real estate agent, or an insurance agent.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the one or more fire characteristics include one or more of: regional population, regional temperature, regional red flag alarm status, regional fuel density, regional building density, or regional fire history patterns.

32. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

determining a geographic location corresponding to the at least one of: the evacuation condition or the in situ refuge condition; and

transmitting the geographic location corresponding to the at least one of: the evacuation condition or the in situ refuge condition.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the fire is a mountain fire, the method further comprising:

determining a level of success in suppressing one or more previous mountain fires, the level of success based on at least one of: a number of fire fighting ground equipment reaching the one or more previous mountain fires, a number of fire fighters reaching the one or more previous mountain fires, or a number of fire fighting aerial vehicles reaching the one or more previous mountain fires.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the level of success is at least one of: high, medium or low.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

determining the presence of one or more correlations between the level of success in suppressing the one or more previous mountain fires and at least one of: a time of year, a weather event, a geological event, or an industrial event.

36. A method of estimating fire exposure of one or more areas of a geographic area, the method comprising:

selecting at least one of the one or more regions;

determining a critical fire quality for the at least one zone;

analyzing information including historical fire activity corresponding to the at least one zone;

determining one or more historical weather patterns for the at least one region; and

determining a probability of a fire occurring in the at least one zone based on the critical fire quality, the historical fire activity, and the one or more historical weather patterns.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

determining a number of fire suppression systems located in or near the at least one zone; and

determining a fire risk level for the at least one zone based on the probability of the fire occurring and the number of the fire suppression systems.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the information comprising historical fire activity comprises a calendar time indication of the historical fire activity, the method further comprising:

further determining the probability of the fire occurring in the at least one zone based on a time of year.

39. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

geographic information about a currently burning fire is obtained from at least one internet-connected mobile device.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the geographic information includes at least one geographic boundary indication of the currently burning fire.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein obtaining the geographic information about the currently burning fire further comprises:

obtaining the geographic information about the currently burning fire via an application running on the Internet-connected mobile device.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the geographic information further includes a plurality of geographic boundary indications of the currently burning fire, the method further comprising:

determining an estimated point of origin of the currently burning fire based at least in part on the plurality of geographic boundary indications; and

determining at least one radius of the currently burning fire from the estimated point of origin based, at least in part, on the plurality of geographic boundary indications.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

generating a visual depiction of a perimeter of the currently burning fire based at least on the at least one radius of the currently burning fire and the estimated point of origin; and

presenting the visual depiction of the perimeter of the currently burning fire on a display device.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein presenting the visual depiction of the perimeter of the currently burning fire on the display further comprises:

obtaining a visual depiction of an area corresponding to the currently burning fire based at least on the at least one radius of the currently burning fire and the estimated point of origin; and

presenting the visual depiction of the perimeter of the currently burning fire on the visual depiction of the area corresponding to the currently burning fire.

45. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

determining a geographic location of the fire suppression system; and

a first geographic circumference around the fire suppression system is determined based on a first predetermined radius extending from the fire suppression system.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

based at least in part on the estimated point of origin, determining that the currently burning fire is at least one of: within the first geographic circumference around the fire suppression system or outside the first geographic circumference around the fire suppression system.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising:

activating the fire suppression system upon determining that the currently burning fire is within the first geographic circumference around the fire suppression system.

48. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

determining a geographic location of the fire suppression system; and

determining a first geographic circumference around the estimated point of origin based on the at least one radius of the currently burning fire.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

based at least in part on the geographic location of the fire suppression system, determining that the fire suppression system is at least one of: within the first geographic circumference around the estimated origination point, or outside the first geographic circumference around the estimated origination point.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising:

activating the fire suppression system upon determining that the fire suppression system is within the first geographic circumference around the estimated point of origin.

51. The method of claim 42, wherein the fire suppression system is a first fire suppression system of a plurality of fire suppression systems, the method further comprising:

determining a geographic location of a second of the plurality of fire suppression systems; and

based at least in part on the geographic location of the second fire suppression system, determining that the second fire suppression system is at least one of: within the first geographic circumference around the estimated origination point, or outside the first geographic circumference around the estimated origination point.

52. The method of claim 51, further comprising:

activating the second fire suppression system upon determining that the second fire suppression system is within the first geographic circumference around the estimated point of origin.

53. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

obtaining information about the currently burning fire from one or more mobile device-based sources, the information including one or more user observation locations of the currently burning fire, the mobile device having a geo-referencing module;

based at least in part on the one or more user observation locations, determining at least one of: a geo-referenced boundary line or geo-referenced location of the currently burning fire; and

presenting on the visual display at least one of: the geographic reference boundary line or the geographic reference location of the currently burning fire.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the one or more mobile-device based sources are at least one of:

application of,

Application of,

An application, another internet-based social media application, or a customized mobile device-based application.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the customized mobile device-based application is configured to:

receiving mobile device user input regarding the one or more user observation locations of the currently burning fire; and

determining, based at least in part on the output of the geo-referencing module and the one or more user observation locations, at least one of: a geo-referenced boundary line or geo-referenced location of the currently burning fire.

56. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a system user input comprising a virtual pattern proximate to the currently burning fire, the virtual pattern comprising an interior region; and

presenting a visual depiction of at least one of the following on the visual depiction of the area corresponding to the currently burning fire: the dummy pattern or the inner region.

57. The method of claim 56, further comprising:

determining one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems that are located within at least one of: the dummy pattern or the inner region; and

linking one or more control functions of the determined one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems.

58. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

receiving a system user input comprising an activation request for at least one of: one or more determined fire suppression systems of the plurality of fire suppression systems;

activating at least one of the determined one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems included in the activation request based on the activation request; and

activating at least one of the determined one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems not included in the activation request based on the link.

59. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

based on the link, activating the one or more of the plurality of fire suppression systems located within at least one of: the dummy pattern or the inner region.

60. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a system user input comprising a first geographic location reference for the currently burning fire;

identifying at least one first building located at or near the first geographic location reference; and

at least one second building proximate to the at least first building is identified.

61. The method of claim 60, further comprising:

determining at least one fire suppression system of the plurality of fire suppression systems associated with the at least one second building; and

activating the at least one fire suppression system of the plurality of fire suppression systems associated with the at least one second building.

62. The method of claim 61, further comprising:

identifying at least one third building proximate to the at least first building;

determining at least one fire suppression system of the plurality of fire suppression systems associated with the at least one third building; and

activating the at least one fire suppression system of the plurality of fire suppression systems associated with the at least one third building.

63. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining one or more fire risks corresponding to the currently burning fire;

comparing at least the first fire risk to a first fire risk threshold; and

activating the fire suppression system when determining:

the currently burning fire is within the first geographic circumference around the fire suppression system, an

The determined fire risk exceeds the first fire risk threshold.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein the fire suppression system is a first fire suppression system of a plurality of fire suppression systems, the method further comprising:

determining a geographic location of the first fire suppression system;

determining a geographic location of at least a second fire suppression system; and

presenting a visual indication of the geographic location of the first and second fire suppression systems on the visual depiction of the area corresponding to the currently burning fire.

65. The method of claim 64, wherein determining the geographic location of the at least second fire suppression system comprises:

determining the geographic location of the at least second fire suppression system based on one or more of: historical fire data, a historical fire pattern, a pattern of the currently burning fire, a historical weather pattern, a current weather pattern, a fuel distribution pattern, a wind pattern, or a geographic proximity between the first and second fire suppression systems.

66. The method of claim 65, further comprising:

receiving a system user input comprising a virtual connection between the first fire suppression system and the second fire suppression system; and

presenting a visual depiction of the virtual connection between the first and second fire suppression systems.

67. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

linking one or more control functions of the first fire suppression system with one or more control functions of the second fire suppression system based on the virtual connection between the first fire suppression system and the second fire suppression system.

68. The method of claim 67, further comprising:

receiving a system user input comprising an activation request for one of: the first or second fire suppression system;

activating the first or second fire suppression system included in the activation request based on the activation request; and

activating the first or second fire suppression system not included in the activation request based on the link.

69. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

determining a geographic distance between the first and second fire suppression systems;

determining a virtual circular geography pattern, the virtual circular geography pattern having a diameter corresponding to the geographic distance, the first and second fire suppression systems being located on a circumference of the virtual circular geography pattern; and

presenting a visual indication of the virtual circular geographic pattern on the geographic locations of the first and second fire suppression systems and on the visual depiction of the area corresponding to the currently burning fire.

70. The method of claim 69, further comprising:

determining that the virtual circular geography pattern forms a virtual geography envelope of a third fire suppression system; and

linking one or more control functions of the first fire suppression system with one or more control functions of the second fire suppression system and one or more control functions of the third fire suppression system based on the geographic envelope of the third fire suppression system.

71. The method of claim 70, further comprising:

receiving system user input comprising an activation request for one or more of: the first, second, or third fire suppression system;

activating each of the first, second, and third fire suppression systems included in the activation request based on the activation request; and

activating each of the first, second, and third fire suppression systems not included in the activation request based on the link.

72. The method of claim 64, further comprising:

determining a geographic location of at least a third suppression system;

presenting a visual indication of the geographic location of the third fire suppression system on the visual depiction of the area corresponding to the currently burning fire;

receiving a system user input comprising a virtual connection between the first fire suppression system, the second fire suppression system, and the third fire suppression system; and

linking one or more control functions of the first fire suppression system with one or more control functions of the second fire suppression system and one or more control functions of the third fire suppression system based on the virtual connections between the first, second, and third fire suppression systems.

73. The method of claim 72, further comprising:

74. The method of claim 73, further comprising:

determining that the virtual connections between the first, second, and third fire suppression systems form a virtual geographic envelope of a fourth fire suppression system; and

linking the one or more control functions of the first fire suppression system, the one or more control functions of the second fire suppression system, and the one or more control functions of the third fire suppression system with the one or more control functions of the fourth fire suppression system based on the geographic envelope of the fourth fire suppression system.

75. The method of claim 74, further comprising:

receiving system user input comprising an activation request for one or more of: the first, second, third, or fourth fire suppression system;

activating each of the first, second, third, and fourth fire suppression systems included in the activation request based on the activation request; and

activating each of the first, second, third, and fourth fire suppression systems not included in the activation request based on the link.