September 10, 1996- "Beyond 2000" Television Program
News Release
"Beyond 2000" Television Program travels from Australia to document FIRECAT fire suppression demonstration
Spring Valley, CA. Rick White, CEO of FAV, Inc., announced that the television show "Beyond 2000," a science and technology program which airs on the Discovery Channel, will be sending a crew to film FAV's prototype Fire Attack Vehicle, also known as the FIRECAT, on September 26 and 27, 1996. Pat McGuinness of Beyond International, New South "Wales, Australia, will be the director. According to White, the experimental FIRECAT exceeded performance expectations in extinguishing brush fires during tests held in Imperial County, California, during the first quarter of 1996.
The brush fires were extinguished without the use of water or chemicals by the totally new concept FIRECAT employing its proprietary direct attack method for wild land fire suppression. The field trials dramatically demonstrated the ability of the FIRECAT to interrupt a raging wild fire's ignition sequence while simultaneously destroying the advancing fire line. By attacking the flank of an advancing wild land fire, the FIRECAT destroys the fire by slashing the burning material and sweeping it back into the already-burned area. High pressure air assists in the highly dynamic sweeping process to blow the heat (and fine combustible particles necessary for the fire to propagate) back into the black side of the fire line along a 26-foot wide swath. Thus deprived of heat and new fuel, the fire is extinguished in a continuous process with little or no scarring of the topsoil, since the FIRECAT operates without striking the ground. A very wide fire break is the only evidence of the FIRECAT's path. Plant root structures are left intact by the cutting action of the FIRECAT.
According to FAV, Inc. staff scientist Charles Eminhizer, PhD, the FIRECAT is designed to operate within the fire environment. To fight fire at point blank range, the FIRECAT is fire-proofed to withstand 1,650 degrees Celsius. To operate in smoke and night conditions, the FIRECAT employs a heat sensitive infrared camera and on-board monitors. Twenty patents will issue December 16, 1996. The widely respected law firm of Brown Martin Haller and McClain are patent counsel for FAV, Inc.
The prototype FIRECAT is currently undergoing field trials at the Pala Indian Reservation located in northern San Diego County. FAV, Inc. is a two (2) year-old Nevada corporation. Research and development facilities are presently leased in Spring Valley, CA. The FIRECAT has been previously featured in Popular Mechanics magazine and internationally in The Guardian, London. CEO is Rick White. A video, business plan and photographs are available. Contact Roy Hamilton, Director, FAV Marketing, Inc. either via e-mail: royhamilton@thefirecat.com or by telephone: 954-600-3826
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