Herb Brockett and I have been in firefighting together forever and he knew I was working on this in my garage. He said if there was ever a way to help me develop it, he would. Developing a product like this is really expensive for a regular guy like me and it took a long time to build the first one because I had to do it on my own time with my own money.

My design was pretty good and it got some attention, but I really didn't know how to package and market the thing. When I agreed to have FireDrake develop this, I was really pleased with how the redesigned model looked and operated. They took my initial Alpha prototype unit and transformed it into a very versatile platform that was easily scaleable to whatever dimensions it needs to be.

The FireDrake Team chose the market for this after looking at every application to see where it would do the most good. In their estimation, the market choices are actually really extensive but the Gas and Oil refineries and HAZMAT companies could really use this first and foremost. When things go wrong in either one of those conditions, they REALLY go wrong… My initial thought was to put this in my own area of expertise, which is structure and wildland fires, but I know after seeing this perform in the live fire testing they did at the Willits Fire Training Facility, I know it is right where it belongs.

I am happy and proud to make this contribution to making firefighting a safer job for all of us.

I have worked beside David as a firefighter and I respect him in his thinking and how he does things. He is an intelligent and thoughtful guy and I have watched him for quite awhile trying to get this somewhere where it could save firefighter lives. The first time I saw his Alpha I was impressed and I knew this was a huge advancement in our industry and that it would save lives.

The trouble for anyone that is trying to develop a new product is not only knowing the best way to build it, but knowing where to put it and how to get it there. Especially with limited financing that most of us as individuals have. I decided that this idea was good enough to launch my own company with it if David said OK. I have a very experienced, hard working team of people with me on this that I knew could take this all the way and we have.