A Ukrainian from Germany Tries to Reach California Governor Gavin Newsom with His Wildfire Response Plan

On January 14, 2025, Ihor Taran, a German resident of Ukrainian origin, contacted the editorial office of Russian California to express his concerns about the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area. In a letter addressed to California Governor Gavin Newsom, originally sent on August 2, 2024, from Hanover, Taran proposed an alternative approach to wildfire suppression.

RUSSIAN CALIFORNIA — Ihor Taran argues that the fire containment methods currently used in California are ineffective given the shortage of fresh water. According to him, the primary driver of the wildfire spread is the Santa Ana winds, which he believes must be blocked or mitigated. In his letter, he cited examples from Soviet firefighting techniques and his own expertise in the field.

Taran also recorded a video message emphasizing that he had repeatedly tried to communicate his ideas to California officials but received no response. Seeking a way to reach a broader audience, he turned to the Russian California newspaper through the Internet.

The editorial office has copies of Ihor Taran’s letter sent to Governor Newsom, along with supporting receipts and his video message.

Dear Governor Gavin Newsom,

My name is Ihor Taran. I am a qualified engineer, currently living in Hannover, Germany under §24 granting temporary protection because of the war in Ukraine.

Over the last few days, California’s largest wildfire has been covered in the media worldwide. It has already burned down a huge area, made several thousand people evacuate from nearby areas, reached an area of Los Angeles in size and is reported to still be far from localization. The wildfire has been one of the largest in California ever. As of today, about 5,000 firefighters, 400 fire trucks and a great number of volunteer firefighters are involved. All available means are being used to protect people’s lives and their property. Wildfire smoke caused severe air pollution in California and neighboring states. Thousands of people lost power.

I would like to inform you that I have a background in the design, creation and manufacture of special devices and units that allow localizing and extinguishing fires of any intensity and any size, including crown fires with a height of 30 m and above and a frontline of up to 5,000 m, by a group of 35-50 firefighting experts using 7-10 specialized units that actually prevent the fire from spreading and turn it back to the already burnt area. These units are equipped with special mechanisms that move towards the spreading fire and cover the burnt area with a 10-15 cm layer of soil, which is extracted from the ground along a suspended trajectory at a distance of up to 100 m, thereby denying oxygen to fire sources independently of water.

The units apply a flow of air at a subsonic speed to the fire front, which stops the fire from spreading and introduces an excess amount of oxygen into the seat of fire, thereby instantly increasing the temperature and pressure in the fire front. The fire front stops, turns in the opposite direction and returns to the burnt area, where there is practically nothing left to burn. Shortly, with the use of several units, the fire is driven into a controlled space, where it then burns out completely and is covered with soil to prevent oxygen from reaching the seats of fire.

The fire control unit may be of different versions, capacity and range of high-speed air flow. Depending on the weather, terrain and other conditions, the range of air flow may reach up to 550 m in the direction of the fire front with a residual flow speed during attenuation of at least 7-10 m/sec.

The units can be mounted on a 6×6, 8×8 self-propelled cross-country chassis, on a tracked chassis, on any trailer chassis that can be towed by any wheel-type tractor with an engine power of at least 170 kW, and can operate in any mountainous, hard-to-reach place no fire truck can drive up to. Also, low-power units can be towed by pickups to stop the fire front that is moving towards residential buildings and outbuildings. Any farmer or a private house owner can protect his or her property from fire and wait for the arrival of the main forces of the fire team, while preventing damage to property and preventing the fire front from spreading over a bigger area.

For particularly difficult folds in terrain, such as mountain peaks or hollows, where no equipment can reach, there is a version that operates autonomously, remotely, without the direct presence of personnel. It can be delivered to a hard-to-reach area on a helicopter external sling. That said, it can operate autonomously for at least 24 hours unrefueled, stopping the fire front and turning it back. This unit performs effectively at 360°.

2-3 high-power units can actually stop the fire along the front of up to 1,000 m without using water. 3-4 experts are needed to operate each unit. Today, you will need 50-70 fire trucks and 200-250 firefighters to close a fire front of up to 1,000 m. But as the case stands, success also depends on how many engines and tanks will deliver water. Water delivered in bad time leads to a breakthrough of the fire front, the loss of firefighters and equipment. This all adds up to huge firefighting costs of tens of millions of dollars per day. Damages from burnt property, affected territory and environmental losses stand at tens of billions of dollars and months of work by firefighters at the risk of their lives.

According to my estimates, the price of a set of 3-4 air turbines on self-propelled chassis together with 2-3 soil throwing machines can amount to today’s costs associated with 1-2 days of operation of all the equipment and all other expenses borne to suppress a fire.

I have all the theoretical knowledge and practical experience to create and manufacture such special equipment. I received this knowledge of and practical skills in designing and manufacturing such equipment, as well as practical experience in using and applying them, when I served in the Military Research Institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense from 1984 to 1990 under the supervision of Major General Y.N. Nechaev, Doctor of Engineering, Professor, Honored Scientist and Engineer of the RSFSR, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky and the Academy of Sciences of Aviation and Aeronautics, an outstanding specialist in the field of theory of aircraft and aerospace power plants and other equipment for various purposes, who directly supervised this and other projects designed to overcome the consequences of nuclear and other strikes associated with the breakout of major fires and other related phenomena.

These air turbines and soil throwing machines were used to extinguish an artificially created fire at a test site near Inta, Komi ASSR. Fires of varying intensity with a crown fire of at least 30 m high were artificially created in the taiga (with trees at least 30 m high) and on an area of 150 hectares. The fires moved in different directions from the centers of the fire seats (there were 25 fire seats at the same time). Once the fire had completely flared up on an area of 75 hectares and the fire front had reached its maximum power in windy, dry weather with wind speeds of up to 25 m/sec, medium and high-power air turbines mounted on 6×6 self-propelled chassis of Kraz and Tatra vehicles and on tracked chassis of large artillery

tractors were used. There were 12 units of various chassis with air turbines installed on them. After they started working, by covering the fire front all-round and applying a high- speed air flow for about 1-3 hours of continuous work, the fire was stopped, turned back and driven into a fire trap, which occupied an area of about 8-10 hectares, where it was localized. In about 8-10 hours it burned out completely and moved from crown to ground. After the air turbines had started working, as soon as they began to move the fire into the trap, the soil throwing machines kicked in and covered the entire fire area with a 15-20 cm thick soil layer, completely cutting off the oxygen, thereby destroying all glow necks and potential burnout of the forest floor, which completely eliminated the possibility of repeated outbreaks.

At that time I was the head of the test site and was personally involved in testing of this equipment at all stages, from design to practical use. After the meeting of the US President Ronald Reagan and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev in Reykjavik and signing of the INF Treaty the program was suspended and then closed. Apparently, the documentation was destroyed.

I feel it my duty to share my knowledge with your country and to transfer practical experience in the design and manufacture of such equipment to your experts. I believe that with the global warming and rising outdoor temperatures, the number of fires in your and other US states will only increase and you will need to engage a huge number of people both to extinguish fires and to restore burnt property with vast sums paid by insurance companies, excluding the billions of dollars in damage caused by fires to the environment.

At present, I have developed a plan for the design and creation of such equipment at the current level of technology imagine the difference between a Peterbilt truck manufactured in 1987 and a Peterbilt manufactured in 2024, technical progress has gone far ahead along the way, but the operating principles themselves, which were invented and implemented in the USSR, have remained virtually unchanged.

I am not giving you the unnecessary details here. If you find interest in my proposal and a desire to stop deadly fires in your state and throughout the country for good, I am willing to fully transfer all my theoretical and practical knowledge to your experts. Today, there is no need to immediately invest money in this project. First, you can manufacture and simulate the operation of this equipment by creating an electronic version or make a digital twin model, make sure it works in various modes, study all the physical and other processes that occur during its operation, make all the financial estimates, calculate potential savings from the use of this equipment to extinguish a fire, both daily savings and savings for the entire period until complete elimination of the fire sources. Also calculate the demand for this equipment in the USA and in other countries that suffer billions in losses from fires every year.

By my reckoning, I can manufacture a prototype of a complete set of equipment of any capacity and design at your discretion in Germany within 8-10 months and conduct tests using the equipment in a fire of any complexity and in any country at your discretion. If this proposal interests you as the State Governor and you want to make this equipment in the USA, I am ready to get directly involved in this both in Germany and in the USA.

I believe that I have briefly and clearly outlined my proposal, and you, as the Governor of the State of California, will be interested in implementing this project that can really prevent and permanently protect your and other states from such deadly fires and steer vast sums of money currently spent on fire suppression itself and restoration of the state’s infrastructure, into the development of the state’s infrastructure, like the construction of new hospitals, schools, financial support for low-income population and other top-priority state development programs.

Businessmen and investors who will be minded to become a part of this project will receive guaranteed high profits without much risk.

Since I do not speak English, I had to use translation services.

Sincerely, Ihor Taran

15. 09. 2024.