Big Sur, Calif. (KSBW/CNN Newsource) – This Saturday will mark one year since the Soberanes Fire was sparked in Big Sur.
The 132,000 acre fire became the most expensive fire-fight in US history.
It destroyed 57 homes and claimed the life of a man fighting the fire.
Now, one year later, the vegetation is coming back in Big Sur. And residents who lost their homes are rebuilding.
One Big Sur woman spoke about how she was able to save her home from the fire.
Daniela De Sola’s Big Sur home was right in the line of fire.
“We were the first property to be affected by the fire because it was just one ridge over”
On the day the fire started, De Sola packed up her valuables and evacuated with her family, hoping the wild fire suppression system she engineered would save her home.
“We helped design it and we’ve lived here since it was built and it’s where my daughter has lived her whole life so yeah it means a lot to me.”
De Sola said she always knew a fire was a possibility, and when she built the home she set-up sprinkler system to spray a fire suppressant.
“They basically form like a circle around the house and that would prevent the fire from getting to the house”
The system can be activated onsite or remotely using a phone.
De Sola described the system, “This is the pump and these are the nitrogen tanks that activate the pump”
The suppressant De Sola used is called Perimeter Guard and the Texas company that manufactures it was so impressed by her set-up they sent out representatives to do a case study.
Dylan Nowak with Flame Seal Products said, “This is a very new product for us we developed this around last year and so this is the first case of a success story and that is why we came all the way out here to talk with Daniela and to find out her story”
The fire burned all around the home last summer but never into the perimeter where the product was sprayed.
“I think that is what tells us that it really works,” De Sola said. “It makes me appreciate life more for sure, and living here and the fact that it is all still here and watching nature come back is amazing. And one year later and some people if i didn’t tell them there had been a fire here–they wouldn’t know you know”
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