Like a lot of other endeavors, the ‘Rona’ has put a damper on my efforts to get these things produced. I very much want to get these things made and into the hands of firefighters to make what is inevitably going to be a interesting fireseason, a little easier. However, there are a few hold ups on my end that have trickled down from everything going into lockdown.
First off, I was working on making molds for the plastic parts of the charger at a maker space in St. Louis, MO. It was a great shop, and I was making some headway. However, when I started to realize, in early March, that this virus was going to turn the world on its head, I bailed. I live in Alaska and fight fire out of the Copper River Basin and it just made sense to get back up here as quick as I could.
With that said, when I got back up here, I had a whole lot of other work to tackle. I’ve recently bought a small, off-grid cabin and it needs A LOT of work. My primary focus for the last month has been to get it somewhat livable and now I’m moving into making a fire safe. With the potential of limited fire suppression resources nationwide this year, I’ve attempted to firewise this structure to the best of my ability in a very short about of time. It’s a large task to complete, mostly by myself. I’ve already spent about 4 days cutting and burning thick spruce to get my 100′ around the cabin, and there’s still more to cut. Next is going to be putting a new roof on it. The way it sits now, it’s just begging to catch embers in the eves. The materials are all sitting on site, but I need a few warm days so I can take my wood stove offline for a bit and rebuild that section of roof and the whole chimney. Yay!
So, as soon as I get all this squared away, if it’s not fire season up here, I’ll be getting back on this project. If the season gets here sooner, which is likely, things will have to wait a little while. I apologize to everyone for the hold-up, but it’s unfortunately the current norm for so many things.
Everyone stay safe out there summer and I hope to stand at least 6 feet from all of you on the fireline somewhere in the world soon.