Prescription Pyro, owned by Robert (Bob) Harrold, has been in business for 22 years. His business was born after he began fighting wildfires in 2010, following his trip to Idaho to fight fires with the US Fish & Wildlife Service.
Prescription Pyro, LLC is a custom-burning business. Prescribed burning is the intentional burning of a specific plot of land for the purpose of managing or restoring vegetation. The benefits are removing cedar trees, bromegrass, weeds, overgrown vegetation, and debris piles. Custom burning is also used as a management tool for private hunting habitats and government reserve acres like CRP ground. Prescription Pyro also removes cedar trees with chainsaws and performs snow removal in the winter.
Bob is certified in NWCG Standards. He is on the state board of the Nebraska Prescribed Burn Association.
Bob came to Nebraska Enterprise Fund (NEF) in 2017 for a loan to expand his business. He purchased a fire truck and is now working with a bank to purchase a second Federally certified fire truck. When Bob came to NEF, he was the only full-time employee and hired 12 to 20 seasonal employees. He now hires up to twenty-six seasonal employees and with the purchase of the second fire truck, he is ready to hire 6 additional full-time employees. Not unlike many other businesses, this business experienced slowdowns during COVID. His state jobs were tightening up and two-thirds of his business came from State and Federal contracts. The other third of his business comes from Commercial and Private Ag companies, which were also cautious because of COVID. Despite this, the company’s annual sales have nearly tripled since 2017.
Nebraska Enterprise Fund, Cornerstone Bank, and Rural Enterprise Assistance Project worked with Bob prior to him receiving the loan from NEF.
“NEF helped me with a loan to take my business to the next level. I am now ready to work with a bank to get an SBA loan to purchase a second Federally Certified fire truck.”
Bob Harrold