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Mountain View teens create fire retardant used in Calistoga
Teen entrepreneurs in Mountain View created a fire retardant used in the Pickett Fire, and wildfires in Southern California.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Two Mountain View teens created a non-toxic retardant that helped protect homes from wildfires like the Pickett Fire.
Sebastien Burkhardt and Barrett Deng said they were in Calistoga servicing homes throughout the weekend with their product called Clore.
Teen entrepreneurs growing business
"There were days that we went door to door, and it’s crazy that now people call us when there’s a wildfire," said Deng, 18.
The teens said they packed up a car-full of product on Friday night to help homeowners in Calistoga.
"We ended up spraying throughout the night with our own backpack sprayers on a fire that was just a couple of hills away from where most of the clients were," said Deng.
Their friendship started at the back of math classroom in middle school, but they got the idea to start a business together in 2021 after they smelled Canadian wildfire smoke on a summer trip in Boston.
"When we started off we had to get other people to drive for us, like our parents," Deng said.
They spent months researching and testing at Sebastian’s parent’s house before getting the product up to CAL FIRE standards.
"They weren’t very happy with us taking up most of the garage at first but it was something they got used to," Deng said.
Currently, the teens said they have more than 100 clients, most of which are individual homeowners.
"Last year we started working with a third party manufacturer cause we couldn’t produce enough gallons at my house," Burkhardt said.
The teens were building the business while juggling high school.
"Anytime during lunch break, anytime during classes – don’t tell my teachers about this – we were probably always working on the company," Deng said.
Success in notable wildfires
They say in January, Clore products were used to protect homeowners against the Palisades fire in Southern California.
It was so rewarding, they decided to defer college and take a gap year to focus on the business.
"We believed in the product but it wasn’t until private fire departments started using it in fires and having success cases that we were like really convinced about it," said Burkhardt.
The teens recently graduated from a summer program for entrepreneurs with the University of British Columbia's Creative Destruction Lab.
In 2021, they were semi-finalists for the Diamond Challenge for high school innovators.
Now, they’re more determined than ever to help protect people against wildfires.
"If we could protect just one home, that’s someone’s entire livelihood, that’s really valuable to them," said Burkhardt.
The teens are working on scaling up, including earning contracts overseas to battle wildfires in Thailand.
After their gap year, Burkhardt will attend Cornell and Barrett is going to Cal Berkeley.