Farm fire unit

Fire is an ever present threat, increasing in both ferocity and frequency. The summer of 2019/20 here in Australia devastated huge areas of our country, and came as a harsh reminder just how vulnerable we are, especially in rural Australia. The limited resources of our rural fire fighting services often leave farmers in a position where they face the rapid loss of property, livelihood and lives. 

We live in Kingston S.E. in South Australia. We operate an engineering business and a small feedlot, and are always looking for ways to make life easier and safer. Last year we lost some of our property due to a fire which was very quickly out of control and services couldn't make it here in time.

We have come up with a novel design idea to enable the everyday farmer to help keep their property safer in fire season. Analysing the need for farm fire equipment, it seemed obvious most farmers have a tractor. Given this is a type of off-road vehicle with adequate horse power, we have developed a twin axle trailer with a rigid draw bar to be towed behind a tractor. The next stage of the design is to fit a  5000L tank to the trailer, a hydraulic driven pump, hose reel and a remotely controlled water cannon which is operated from inside the tractor. This gives a wetted area of about 150m, 300 degree rotation and 135 degrees vertically. The cannon runs a stream and a spray. This can be used to wet large areas of land quickly around homes, farm buildings, animal housings, vineyards, orchards and other valuable assets. The ability to prepare a property adequately on days of catastrophic fire danger would be a huge asset to any rural property. The potential for expansion into other areas such a wildlife parks, conservation areas and state forests is huge. This invention could reduce the strain on our fire services, families, insurance companies, stock, wildlife and others affected by fires. 

To complete the project we are looking for support. We require $5000 for the tank, $1000 for the hose reel, $3000 for the pump, $10 000 for the water cannon, and $11 000 to cover the costs of building the trailer, plumbing the unit and fitting the prototype. Once completed we will invite everyone to a demonstration  of this prototype to get feedback as to where it may assist in fighting fires and opportunities of commercial expansion and production. 

The completed prototype will be donated to an under resourced community, as decided by the Kingston, Lucindale and District community.