Putting a new twist on the notion of fighting fire with fire, Boeing has patented a plan for packing howitzer shells with retardant chemicals and lobbing them into the path of a forest fire.
With wildfires raging across the West again this summer, another tactic might be welcome. Talk about a hot market.
But there’s no sign Boeing has even tested its thinking on this idea — no working prototypes are required to win a patent.
The patent, on which a half dozen Puget Sound Boeing employees are credited as the inventors, claims the approach could be more efficient and flexible than dropping the retardant from airplanes or helicopters.
It notes that aircraft can’t fly at night or during bad weather, and “deliver fire-retarding material at a low rate which often makes them inadequate to control forest fires.”
With artillery, the patent asserts, retardant could be delivered in a variety of patterns — “a concentration barrage, a creeping barrage, a rolling barrage, or a block barrage” — without regard to light or weather conditions and with reduced risk to firefighters.
Boeing envisions non-explosive shells opening at preset heights to rain down retardant at 1 to 6 gallons per 100 square feet, according to the patent. With the right gun, delivery could be accurate to within 15 feet over 15 miles, it says.
But not everyone is fired up about the idea.