Inventor's dream comes true
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

© 2007 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc./ADAM LARKEY LIFESAVING- Greg Chavez, a 44-year-old firefighter from Camarillo, stands on stage as part of ABC's reality television show "American Inventor" with his invention the Guardian Angel, a small, pressurized tank of water built to extinguish a Christmas tree fire. Chavez won the $1 million prize.

Long before Greg Chavez ever won the $1 million first-place prize on ABC's reality television show "American Inventor" for his selfcontained sprinkler system for Christmas tree fires, Chavez faced a far greater challenge.

It was Christmastime 15 years ago, and Chavez, a 44-year-old Camarillo firefighter, was feeling the pressure of the holiday season and its material trappings.

He and his wife, Rozanne, were newlyweds raising three young sons and money was tight for the new family.

"I was very . . . drawn down in the pressure of family and Christmastime, and we didn't have a tree, and I couldn't afford very much," Chavez said. "We were having a hard time just getting food on the table."

Chavez, who installed fire sprinklers at the time, said his perspective on life took a dramatic turn while watching news footage of a man escaping a burning house. The man carried his son, who had died in the blaze, which Chavez learned was caused by a Christmas tree.

The image stuck with the Adolfo Camarillo High School grad and now father of six. "It woke me up to how really blessed I was to have so many things," he said. "I had a family and a job."

About that same time, Chavez started to give thought to a selfcontained sprinkler system to combat Christmas tree fires. He would later call his invention the Guardian Angel.

Chavez, a four-year veteran with Ventura County Fire Department, said he set about tinkering in his garage to figure out what was the best fire suppressant to use for his invention. After "lots and lots of burned trees," Chavez said water became the natural choice.

During the ensuing years, both time and money were scarce for Chavez. He was never able to develop his invention past a very rough prototype.

"When I showed up to ("American Inventor"), several hundred trees had burned, and I had probably four blackened prototypes and an untold number of blackened hoses," Chavez said.

Chavez would soon find that, as a contestant on the reality show, he was afforded the time and money to develop his invention.

As the show progressed and other inventors were eliminated, Chavez was one of the three final contestants given $50,000 and the help of a 20-person design team to turn his invention into a reality.

The firefighter described his invention as a small, pressurized tank of water disguised as a Christmas present put beneath the tree. A hose runs from the tank to the top of the tree, where it feeds into a decorative angel, which acts as a sprinkler. Triggered by the heat from a fire, the angel extinguishes the fire without the need for a battery. As the water douses the tree, a fire alarm sounds and alerts those in the house to the blaze.

"The major problem was how to make the fire go out and do it with a small package and do it quickly and safely," Chavez said.

Not only did the sprinkler system have to work quickly and efficiently, but Chavez didn't want the invention to rely on battery power.

"Smoke detectors have saved many thousands and thousands of lives, but a lot of those smoke detectors haven't had an opportunity to save lives simply because people don't change the battery," Chavez said.

Faced with a number of design challenges, Chavez said he never would have fully developed his invention without the help of JMP Creative, an Orange County-based design firm headed by Jim McCafferty.

McCafferty said his team faced two major obstacles. The first was time. The team had less than four weeks to make it work. The second challenge was developing a reliable technology that made the tree "self aware" it was on fire, McCafferty said.

Tightlipped about the invention's details, McCafferty said Chavez was focused on making it a reliable product.

"It was very important to Greg to have a backup to a backup to a backup," McCafferty said.

With a working prototype in hand, Chavez said he turned his sights to winning the $1 million prize.

"The great feeling of that $50,000 kind of faded as I quickly started to look forward to, okay, now let's get the million," he said. "Let's win."

Chavez said he was driven to win by thoughts of his wife, who was home alone with their three youngest children while he spent five weeks in Burbank during the show's filming.

"Emotionally and mentally, he had to be 100 percent focused on this project, so I didn't want to burden him with any struggles we had going at home," said Rozanne Chavez, a hairstylist.

Rozanne Chavez said she worked extra shifts, and all of the day-to-day running of the house made for some stressful times.

The family's sacrifices paid off. Chavez won the grand prize and will meet later this month with executives from smoke alarm maker First Alert to develop his invention.

"When the CEO of a worldwide company walks on the stage, shakes your hand and says, 'We've got the vision,' that's right up there with the $1 million," Chavez said.

Chavez has since become a hometown celebrity and has been stopped for autographs and congratulated while out at dinner.

Although he intends to continue working as a firefighter, Chavez said the money will be used to pay off debt and lower his mortgage payments. He said it will make life a little more "comfortable."

As for his wife, she's happy to have Chavez back home. She said they plan on buying a piano for the family, and she looks forward to a nice, quiet family vacation. "I'm more excited about having his dream come true than I am about winning the million dollars."

Chavez will talk about his invention and his experience on the reality show in a free presentation open to the public on Sun., Aug. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Camarillo Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1201 Paseo Camarillo.