With every wildfire season that comes along in B.C., there’s plenty of discussion around why certain tools weren’t used to fight the flames.
Last summer, that discussion surrounded the Martin Mars water bomber, a WWII-era plane that can drop massive quantities of water or foam at once.
Now, talk surrounds the FireBozz, a high-powered, made-in-Nanaimo water sprinkler that has been used in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Coverage of B.C. wildfires on Globalnews.ca:
The FireBozz is a water cannon that’s based on a modified agricultural sprinkler.
It sprays high volumes of water to create a fire guard. Once deployed, you can just walk away from it.
“You can take those resources, that personnel that would otherwise be used to protect that, let’s say, sawmill or something like that, and utilize them for initial attack or take them to another location to fight the fire,” said FireBozz inventor Rod Zsasz.
READ MORE: Why B.C. isn’t using the Martin Mars water bomber to fight the wildfires
The FireBozz was invented in Nanaimo and has been used across Canada.
It helped to save homes during the Fort McMurray wildfire last year.
Marty Butts, chief of the Sundre Fire Department, had nothing but praise for the tool.
“What I’ve seen in Fort Mac, they worked awesome,” he said.
“The amount of water that these things deploy down, the fire doesn’t have a chance, really. I’ve purchased quite a few of these for my own department because they work so well.”
There are a dozen B.C. fire departments that use the FireBozz, but it wasn’t used by wildfire crews over the summer.
Asked why it wasn’t used, the Office of the Fire Commissioner said it has to be selective about the equipment each firefighting unit carries.
“Looking at new technology, rapid adoption of new technology is really crucial,” Zsasz said.
He hopes that the FireBozz can douse any doubts at home.
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