Valley company hopes Air National Guard will pick their aerial firefighting technology, moves to new location
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- In another year of drought and wildfire danger, Hanford-based Caylym is not going away.
They believe they're closer to filling the firefighting gap in California, and the United States. And that's why they're moving from their Fresno location to a new building close to the Fresno Yosemite Airport.
Caylym CEO Rick Goddard wants to use his container delivery system, the Guardian, to fight wildfires in California more effectively-half the time, half the cost, to save as many homes as possible.
"It goes into the airplane as regular cargo so there's no modification to the airplane, goes out of the airplane as regular cargo, and opens in midair though, and empties like a huge pitcher of water," Goddard said.
Water, retardant, gel, foam, anything approved by the Forest Service goes into the metric-ton box, Goddard says.
"We kid around and say you can put guacamole and salsa in it, it'll still get it to where you need to get it," he said.
Anywhere except the United States, at least not yet.
Action News first introduced you to Caylym last year, and Goddard says the product continues to expand globally, but may finally be moving forward locally.
"The U.S. Air Guard has decided to pursue adopting or looking into this mission of aerial firefighting using a container delivery system like ours. So we'll compete for that opportunity," Goddard said.
And that's why Goddard is packing up the boxes and moving into a 41,000 square foot facility near the Fresno Yosemite Airport.
"This building was really well suited for us, it's got the high ceilings because we need to stack things up high," he said.
Goddard understands he has high expectations, and nothing is guaranteed. But he's a man on a mission to save homes by dropping boxes.
Goddard hopes to have the new building up and running by the end of July, and because he's a veteran, he hopes to have some veterans applying to work for him.
