Stuart;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope the summer has been a good one for you all. We've been through your neck of the woods a few times this summer and I can't say it wasn't busy anyway!..
Good evening, Dwayne.
Fortunately I'm not in the "busy" part of the Wet Coast but somewhat east in Mission, but I did have to drive into Vancouver a few times in July and THAT was busy. Ugh....
As regards the sprinkler system, yes a generator would be pretty much mandatory if you use an electric pump, and I imagine not a few of you have one, but I was thinking of a gas-powered high-pressure pump. Now gasoline and wildfires make uncomfortable bedfellows but the professional (read "expensive") pumps used for fire suppression are gas-powered. Websites like
One Stop Fire have info on these systems, although there are suppliers in BC as well.
In fact I'm in the process of putting roof-top sprinklers on my place here as I'm rural enough to not have municipal water. I have a good shallow well, but I also have two underground water tanks, fed from the metal roof in the rainy seasons, with a total of 3000 Imp. gallons. and am considering possibly adding a couple of above-ground tanks as well. I have a high-pressure "trash" pump that I think I can use to draw water from the tanks (possibly with a pressure-relief valve) and have run a 100' line up to the house and started to install 1" PVC lines under the eaves to go up to the gables. There will also be a sprinkler to dampen down the area by the well house. The impact sprinklers can cover about a 50' radius @ 50 psi; 20' up on the gable ends might increase this. I also have a 6kW diesel genny so alternately I could run an electric pump. (Besides, I'm retired and need projectss to work on!)
Now we don't have the wildfire threat here that you folks do but a couple of years ago there was a small fire up the hill from me that could have got out of hand and become quite nasty; some folks had already made provision to evacuate their horses if it spread. Fortunately Hatzic Lake is at the bottom of that hill and there were water-suppressing helicopters dropping water on the fire for nearly 12 hours. So it can happen even here.
