Many have not experienced a fire up close. One year about 15 years ago I almost lost my house as did our neighbors to a wild fire. It moved so fast and the sky so black, with cinders everywhere and soot like a nuclear fallout horror movie. Luckily our neighborhood was spared except for a couple of homes. The fire fighters did a good job that day, others living further down the path of the fire and lower in the canyons did not fair so well, a few people even lost their lives. From that day on, I take fires seriously and you should too.

In my company we are capable of cleaning the undercarriages of fire vehicles in weed free areas and cleaning of aircraft, which spray fire retardants. When you are up close to such equipment you get an idea of how tough the battle of fighting fires really is. We are well aware of who will be doing the firefighting this fire season and the dollars that will be spent. Those fighting from the air are the Air force Auxillary; Air National Guard Stations with C-117, C-130, C-141. The Forestry Service can deploy up to 450 aircraft. Tanker planes drop slurry chemicals on fires, even using C-5 Galaxy. Helicopters deployed carry chemicals and evacuate injured and at risk personnel, Small spotter aircraft direct drops. The chemicals used must be cleaned off to prevent corrosion of aluminum parts and to protect viability for pilots.

The mutual assistance programs developed an interagency task force to work simultaneously. Local City, County, Seasonal, Prison Labor, Casual Firefighters, volunteers, National Guards men, Army, etc. And after a fire, there is ash and debris all over the cars, the ground, and buildings. If you are in the pressure washing business there is plenty of work after a fire, too much. You would be wise during a fire to get your equipment ready for the cleanup, which will follow. Our company has even been ready post fire to do free services at parks, playgrounds, schools and churches and are ready to deploy for paid services of pressure washing anything, anytime, anywhere and anyplace who calls.

Think about this if you own a pressure washer business, as you can help your community with free services and make lots of money cleaning up businesses and fire equipment. And dont forget your pressure washing rig can also work as a mini fire truck if you see a burning cinder which lands near you and threatens to start yet another fire. Some cinders can fly miles before landing and causing another small fire.