Steve Conboy

"I lost my father to chemicals he was told were safe. I built this so other families wouldn't have to." — Steve Conboy

Steve Conboy is the founder of Safer Chemistry and the inventor of the only EPA Safer Choice–certified fire retardant in the world. After serving in the U.S. Navy, his father died from exposure to industrial chemicals that had been sold to him as harmless. That loss became Steve's life's work.

For more than two decades, Steve has been a working builder, a fire-elimination technologist, and a national advocate for safer construction. He has been recognized in Marquis Who's Who for his early achievements in fire-elimination technology and community-protection systems, and his chemistry holds a distinction no other fire-retardant product in the world has earned: certification under the U.S. EPA Safer Choice program, which independently verifies that a product performs without compromising human or environmental health.

Through Safer Chemistry, Steve leads True Fire Risk Reduction Projects — proactive strategies that make homes and animal habitats significantly less vulnerable when wildfire arrives. He briefs homeowners, builders, fire chiefs, and policymakers, and co-hosts the Green Pill Podcast with wildfire survivor Hank Wright.

He lives in Carlsbad, California.

What he's working on right now

• Defending Mission San Juan Capistrano and a growing roster of California historical landmarks from wildfire with non-toxic chemistry.
• Wildlife habitat defense partnerships across California.
• Open-sourcing the engineering specifications so other builders can replicate the work.
• Briefing fire chiefs, code officials, and insurers on what "Safer Choice" means for risk-rated insurance.