The Problem: Burned Homes Drain the Water Firefighters Need
When a home burns, its plumbing fails and keeps flowing. Each destroyed structure becomes an open outlet on the same water system firefighters are drawing from, so pressure falls just when it is needed most. The same failure has been documented in major fires from Tubbs (2017) and Camp (2018) to Marshall (2021), Lahaina (2023), and Palisades and Eaton (2025).
Key Stats:
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6.5–12 million gallons a day lost through roughly 300–400 destroyed homes in the 2021 Marshall Fire (Whelton et al., 2023).
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16,246 structures destroyed in the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires (CAL FIRE).
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The same failure in six major fires since 2017: Tubbs, Camp, Woolsey, Marshall, Lahaina, and Palisades & Eaton.
Our Solution: A Shutoff That Knows When a Home Is Lost
A battery-powered detector at the wall and a shutoff in the meter box. Together they close a home’s water service only when the home is lost.
• Dual-condition trigger: closes only when fire AND structural collapse are detected, so a home still being defended keeps its water.
• Sprinklers keep working: a metered delay (25 min–2 hr) runs before the valve closes.
• Self-powered: sealed internal battery with no connection to the home’s electrical supply. 20-year design life, pending testing.
• Outside the home: the detector mounts at the exterior wall; the shutoff sits in the meter box on the utility’s side.
• Status: prototype stage. Certification testing (collapse detection, fire survivability, life testing) is planned over the next 18 months.
Why Partner with Fire Flow?
For water utilities: a parcel-level way to protect system pressure when homes are lost to fire.
Installs at the meter box, on the utility’s side, with no entry into the home.
We’re building relationships with utilities and fire-affected communities ahead of certification. If your system has lost pressure to destroyed structures, we’d like to hear from you.
