Wind-enabled ember dousing

The greatest danger to homes during catastrophic wind-driven wildfire events comes from lofted brands. This paper describes a novel sprinkler system which is specifically designed to operate in the wind conditions associated with catastrophic wildland fires, and extinguish incoming firebrands. This system uses moderate water flow rates, allowing structure protection times of several hours using commercially available water reservoirs. A case-study of the construction and deployment of this system on a property in San Diego County is discussed. The operation of the system during the Cedar Fire of October 2003 is described, and its role in preventing the destruction of the dwelling is analyzed.