Gunner Gustafson

A retired Cal Fire wildland firefighter, Gunner lives in a redwood canyon in Boulder Creek where storms routinely take out the grid. He runs emergency radio for his mountain neighborhood off a Yaesu FT-991A and a wire antenna strung seventy feet up between two redwoods.

He wheeled his first backup battery — a 116-lb Goal Zero Yeti 1250 — down his driveway during the CZU Lightning Complex fires, and has chased better home backup ever since. He wires our heaviest units into his house through a Reliance transfer switch, checks whether they can start his deep-well water pump, and puts an oscilloscope on the line to confirm the switchover is fast enough to keep his Starlink and desktop alive.