A North County business is helping homeowners take preventative measures against wildfires with a rooftop sprinkler system, reports NBC 7’s Todd Strain.
During the 2014 Poinsettia Fire, Mark and Christy Evereklian were trying to save their Carlsbad house before evacuating.
"They were gathering their things, and I was trying to hose off the house," Christy said.
She remembered the tense moments as the fire was pushing closer.
"I was about to become that guy on the roof with a garden hose, trying to protect a house from a fire," Mark said.
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He remembers thinking: "I wish I could have a sprinkler on my roof."
"And I was like, 'Why can't I have a sprinkler on my roof?'" Mark said.
Christy also thought there should be a product that you can set and evacuate safely, so they created one and called it Iron Owl Rooftop Sprinklers.
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Sales were slow at first, but it eventually developed into a pretty good side business. Then the recent Los Angeles-area wildfires changed that.
"During the L.A. fires, we sold more in three weeks than we did in previous record years,” said Christy, who serves as the chief financial officer of Iron Owl Rooftop Sprinklers.
Demand for the products is so great, the back of their normal business, Carlsbad Gaming PC, has been transformed into a sprinkler building assembly line.
Lots of employees and sounds of busy work fill the Carlsbad business as sprinkler legs are filled with concrete, bolts are inserted and legs are cleaned. Then four legs, clamps and a sprinkler head are boxed up and shipped to the customer.
All that's needed for the customer to assemble the product is a screwdriver before it's placed on the roof of a house and connected to a hose that is plugged into a faucet (a normal garden faucet will work). Turn on the water faucet, and the rooftop sprinkler sends out water.
Ideally, the sprinkler will cover not just the roof of a house, but the surrounding areas that could be filled with trees, bushes, shrubs or any type of vegetation that is flammable.
"That’s a key part," Mark said. "You really want to get the bushes, trees and vegetation around your house that are so dry wet, which helps the embers from catching fire and spreading.”
These rooftop sprinklers are not designed to put out a fire — it’s a proactive safety measure. Iron Owl Rooftop Sprinklers are not guaranteed to save houses, but the founders have heard from people whose homes have been saved.
"It really feels great to know that we have saved some houses," Christy said.
For the Evereklians, it's kind of a juxtaposition. It’s a good business, and business is booming, but it’s a business they'd rather not be in.
"I'd be happy if we didn't have to make and sell this product, but since this is where we are, we're happy to provide people with sprinklers," Christy said. "But we'd be just as happy if we didn't need these at all."
Iron Owl Rooftop Sprinklers sell for $159 and are available on Amazon.
