{"id":294522,"date":"2025-11-16T05:07:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T05:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/294522\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T05:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T05:07:15","slug":"wet-homes-have-a-hard-time-burning-summit-county-residents-protect-homes-from-wildfires-with-special-sprinkler-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/294522\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Wet homes have a hard time burning\u2019: Summit County residents protect homes from wildfires with special sprinkler system"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"Water pours off the roof on the side of the Dolamore family’s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

After coming close to losing their home to the Ptarmigan Fire<\/a> in 2021, a Summit County father and son teamed up with another father-and-son duo to help homeowners in the wildland urban interface protect their homes from wildfires.<\/p>\n

Duston Dolamore and his dad were not home when the Ptarmigan Fire broke out near the Hamilton Creek neighborhood outside Silverthorne in September 2021. Dolamore said his dad called him right after landing in South Carolina to tell him about the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to have one of our neighbors come over,\u201d Dolamore said. \u201cThey had to clear out as much as they could within, like, 40 minutes, because they already had to do their house. It got really scary, and it\u2019s just the worst feeling in the world knowing that there\u2019s a wildfire burning nearby and you\u2019re not there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolamore and Nick Christiansen graduated from Snowy Peaks and Summit High School, respectively, and returned to the county after college and started Defense Delivered<\/a>, a company that designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.<\/p>\n

\"\"Water drenches a wall on the front of the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

Similar systems exist, Dolamore said, and are especially popular in Australia. Matt Benedict, the Red, White and Blue Fire Protection District wildfire division chief, wrote in an email that firefighters dealing with a wildfire look to take fuel away from the fire or make fuel less likely to burn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis system can keep a structure wet as the fire approaches, therefore limiting its ability to ignite,\u201d Benedict wrote.<\/p>\n

Other systems use the wind-enabled ember dousing, or WEEDS, method, Dolamore said, which uses sprinklers on the roofline of a home to spray into the wind, assuming the wind will blow the water back onto the home. Defense Delivered\u2019s system instead sprays water directly onto the home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that there\u2019s going to be 40 mph winds,\u201d Dolamore said. \u201cSo we want the water right on the home. We really try to put it right up to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Installations at different properties can vary, but the prototype installed on the Dolamores\u2019 home outside Silverthorne has around 58 small nozzles around the house and two large sprinklers on the roof, Dolamore said.<\/p>\n

\"\"A large rooftop sprinkler sprays water at the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

The home next door has a system as well, and with about 3,000 square feet less surface area to cover than the Dolamores\u2019 house, it has about 53 small nozzles and two large sprinklers. The neighbor\u2019s house is a \u201cmore complete example\u201d of what a production home will look like, Dolamore said. Its system is less visible from the street, uses copper pipes instead of the prototypes\u2019 flexible plastic ones and has improved spouts, he said.<\/p>\n

Benedict wrote that Defense Delivered is \u201cfollowing some very important elements\u201d of what firefighters know causes homes to burn during wildfires. The most likely way for a home in the wildland urban interface to ignite, he said, is from the \u201cember storm,\u201d or embers traveling with the wind ahead of a fire.<\/p>\n

The Defense Delivered system uses satellite inputs, Dolamore said, and if the satellites show a fire within two miles of a home, the system starts a \u201clight pre-wetting process.\u201d Then, if one of the system\u2019s thermal cameras picks something up, Dolamore said it triggers that \u201czone\u201d of the system to turn on fully, preparing for embers.<\/p>\n

\"\"The sprinkler system on the home next to the Dolamores has copper pipes and improved spouts. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

Benedict said the system \u201cis targeted\u201d and puts water right where embers often collect, like on the house\u2019s eves, siding, architectural corners and overhangs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just big cannons throwing water out in the middle of the landscape,\u201d Benedict said. \u201cIt\u2019s throwing water, almost misting, showering water, right up against the house, right where the ignitions would be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

The system increases the relative humidity, Benedict said, which helps prevent embers from propagating. Other mitigation efforts, like clearing a home\u2019s defensible space, help lower the chances of flames directly contacting the house. That mitigation combined with high humidity deals with embers and direct flames \u201cpretty effectively,\u201d Benedict said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWet houses have a hard time burning,\u201d Benedict said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mist clouds the air as sprinklers wet the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

Defense Delivered\u2019s system wets the home in four sections, or zones, as a way to use water more efficiently and reduce pressure loss. The company\u2019s proprietary software adjusts which zones activate based on input from temperature sensors, thermal cameras and satellite data to protect the windward side of the home first.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fire department said, \u2018Well, if you turn everything on at once, it\u2019s going to use too much water,’\u201d said Dana Christiansen, Defense Delivered\u2019s chief marketing officer. \u201cWe came up with a way of, you know, using a quarter of the water and cycling it around four zones of the house, and we\u2019re down to an amount of water usage that they like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sensors can trigger the system automatically, but Defense Delivered also has a mobile app that allows homeowners to monitor and trigger the system themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a Ring doorbell system,\u201d Dana Christiansen said. \u201cIf you\u2019re out of town, you can see your house, you can activate it manually or override that automatic activation. It gives you a lot of control of the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolamore said the system works well for high-altitude homeowners by draining completely when not in use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system remains completely dry until it\u2019s wet,\u201d Dolamore said.<\/p>\n

The company offers free home wildfire safety inspections, where Dolamore, a certified wildfire mitigation specialist, analyzes a home\u2019s defensible space and makes suggestions for how to better \u201charden\u201d the home against wildfire danger.<\/p>\n

At a home the company worked on in Silverthorne, Dolamore said they installed fireproof mesh over vents to prevent embers from entering and did landscaping around the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe removed a large amount of brush,\u201d Dolamore said. \u201cWe limbed up the trees, we added gravel barriers around the existing trees that are, let\u2019s say, within 30 feet of the home, but at least further than 5 (feet). We removed dead trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defense Delivered originally looked to work with existing companies and be their \u201cColorado branch,\u201d Dolamore said, but found other systems to be too expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really wanted to build a system and not price people out,\u201d Dolamore said.<\/p>\n

While pricing can fluctuate depending on the needs of each project, Dolamore said most installations cost around $7.50 per square foot. Dana Christiansen said a 3,000 square foot home, then, would cost around $22,000.<\/p>\n

A Colorado state bill signed into law earlier this year requires insurance companies to recognize homeowners\u2019 wildfire mitigation efforts<\/a> when determining wildfire risk. The law aims to lower insurance rates for homeowners.<\/p>\n

Dana Christiansen said Defense Delivered hopes their systems help people lower their insurance costs or regain insurance if they had previously been denied due to high wildfire risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine if you\u2019re saving $7,000 a year off your insurance premium because you have this, and the system costs $22,000,\u201d Dana Christiansen said. \u201cIt pays for itself in three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

A thermal camera on the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13 works as part of the Defense Delivered system. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

A sprinkler on the side of the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13 sprays the house. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

A large rooftop sprinkler sprays water at the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Mist clouds the air as sprinklers wet the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

A large rooftop sprinkler sprays water at the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The sprinkler system on the home next to the Dolamores has copper pipes and improved spouts. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Water pours off the roof at the front of the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

A large rooftop sprinkler sprays water at the Dolamore family\u2019s home outside Silverthorne on Nov. 13. Defense Delivered designs and installs sprinkler systems on the exterior of homes to help protect them from wildfires.
Kyle McCabe\/Summit Daily News<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

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