INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – As numerous 2026 wildfire season outlooks foresee a daunting and highly active fire season on the horizon, a new Wildfire Pro Shop is opening in Incline Village to provide affordable and environmentally-friendly wildfire defense.
Steve Conboy is the founder of Mighty Fire Breaker and the inventor of CitroTech, a plant-safe, EPA Safer Choice-certified fire retardant. His background as a mold expert, and former 45-year building and lumber professional led him to discovering a chemical reaction using tri-potassium citrate, a highly soluble form of potassium.
“You ate it today,” said Conboy. The ingredient can be found in a number of foods including jams, icecream, plant-based dairy products and sports drinks. “What’s interesting about it is when you spray it on the fuels – pine needles, dry grass, manzanita, lumber, paper, fabric, you can’t ignite it with a 3500 degree [Fahrenheit] torch.”
Along with his discovery of tri-potassium citrate as a flame retardant, he learned the chemistry dissolves quickly and travels through the root zone of trees, allowing them to manage water efficiently which diminishes drought stress and wilting. It also keeps roots active, making it easier for them to pull water from the soil.
Roughly 450,000 acres were burned last season in Nevada alone, with California seeing upwards of 500,000 acres scorched across the state. With insurance companies restricting coverage in wildfire areas, could CitroTech be an affordable answer to proactive wildfire defense in Lake Tahoe?
Supported by a national Technical Evaluation Report (TER), Conboy began treating wood with CitroTech, and now creates Class A lumber.
“I can spray the bones of a building before the builder puts in the windows and mechanical, and make the entire house Class A,” said Conboy. “When you do that, and you pre-plumb the house during construction out to the roof for a wildfire defense system, we begin to get the attention of the underwriters that we’ve added an airbag to the house in risk reduction.”
As an airbag is an added safety feature on a car, this could be an added safety feature on a home, allowing homeowners the chance to get reduced costs in insurance premiums.
Now with 47 patents and a cost-effective program to defend wood-framed, high-density housing projects, Conboy wants to bring this sustainable and affordable practice to the basin.
“This is what we need to do in Tahoe,” said Conboy. “If I were going to Tahoe to buy a house in cash, $5 million, $10 million, I’m not really worried about the insurance. When I’m getting a mortgage, and I can’t get enough insurance to cover the mortgage, I can’t close the escrow – and we’re going to do something about it.”
After extensive testing, CitroTech passed the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) extended test with a Class A rating and is the only fire retardant on the EPA Safer Choice list. The product is also UL GREENGUARD Gold certified. Notably, and at the forefront of Conboy’s mission, CitroTech is nontoxic to aquatic life and the environment.
“We don’t want all these toxic chemicals around that lake! We love that lake,” Conboy added.
As the first of several Wildfire Pro Shops is scheduled to open on June 1 in Incline Village, Conboy is partnering with NorCal Lumber Company and RJ Daily Construction to support new construction with Class A lumber and community-focused wildfire mitigation services.
The shop will not only sell spray equipment and CitroTech products, including tanks, backpack sprayers, rigs, and ember-defense mulch, it will also be providing hands-on expertise to teach and support affordable wildfire defense and risk reduction. A portion of every sale at the Wildfire Pro Shop will be donated to plant trees. Support of the pro shop aims to ensure the use of non-toxic chemicals backed by full SDS disclosure around lakes and streams.
“Safety and affordability is my goal,” Conboy said. “People living in these high-wildfire risk regions are worried they’re going to lose their homes, so what can we do to try and defend it affordably? That’s what it’s all about.”
Tuesday, May 26, the Wildfire Pro Shop will be hosting a Wildfire Event at 5 p.m. at the Chateau, and will be demonstrating a 2000-gallon tanker truck full of CitroTech and a lumber truck of Class A lumber trusses. Throughout the event, Conboy will be providing people with information and answering any questions.
To learn more about the new Wildfire Pro Shop or CitroTech, visit wildfireproshop.com
The Wildfire Pro Shop is located at 889 Tahoe Blvd., Unit 1, in Incline Village, Nev.
