About six years ago my company got a call from the USDA Forest Service Research and Development Center in San Dimas, CA about bidding on a contract to build specialized sprayers. Since we were in the Mobile Car Wash Franchising Industry they thought we might be able to help out and put together a few small units, which would be on every vehicle. These sprayers would have two uses. One was to clean the undercarriages on the bottom of the vehicles as they left the dirt onto pavement for the noxious weed program. It prevents seeds from weeds etc from moving from forest to forest and hitching a ride. The second use would be to flood out smoldering campfires, which were left or put out tiny fires from lightning. I got to talking with the procurement officer and found they did not have an arson program in place. Since it is part of our corporate mission to assist in efforts to help communities we drafted a report and Business Plan Proposal for a Neighborhood Arson Watch Program for the forestry service. The USDA Forest Service requested a submission of a plan after we mentioned it to them, so we delivered. I remember staying up all night working on it the last day before it was submitted. We had been working with the USDA Forest Service Research and Development Center in San Dimas, CA. on a completely different project the USDAFS is considering is using Car Wash Guys Equipment to clean the bottoms of vehicles leaving sensitive eco-systems within the forestry jurisdiction. Clearing the weeds off the bottoms of trucks and other vehicles, which go off road will prevent the spreading of pathogens like the one infecting the Old Redwoods in CA. By cleaning the bottoms of vehicles they hope to keep the pathogen from spreading to the nearby Sierra Nevada Mountain Ranges. This pathogen has jumped species of trees already and is threatening the Old Wood Mature Forest Areas and must be stopped. That is how the drafting of the Neighborhood Mobile Arson Watch came from a guy who washes cars. If you live in an area, which is in the foothills or near a forest and you want to protect your community and town from fire, you can download my free 21-Page E-Book and take it to your next town hall meeting. I give this freely to you, without copyright, you may copy it, modify it as long as you use it to help people. Due to the bureaucracy the Arson Plan is generally run from the private sector. The USDS Forest Service is under tremendous financial pressures and staffing issues. But the plan we wrote is simple and easy to use and it is free to you and your community; use this web address for your free copy: http://www.lancewinslow.org/arsonwatch.pdf |
