Earthquake valves: Yorba Linda man's mission

Having a mission in life is rewarding, and when the mission involves public safety and the possibility of saving lives, the personal payback is even greater.

That's the situation for Terry Dixon, a 76-year-old, 40-year Yorba Linda resident, as he's undertaken a mission to sell entire cities as well as individual residents and businesses on the need for earthquake-actuated gas shut-off valves.

Dixon, who spent 55 years in various sales-oriented roles, is now advising Pacific Seismic Products – which he says is the largest earthquake-safety product company in the world – in a largely voluntary capacity as National Sales Manager. (His sister, Sharon Harper, is a company principal.)

Although other companies sell similar products, Dixon is especially proud his firm produces all sizes of valves, from the three-quarter to one and one-half inch for residential installations up to a six- and eight-inch flange for commercial and industrial use.

St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church has two large valves, one installed in 2008 and another just this year, with valves scheduled for installation at other Orange Diocese churches, schools, rectories and convents, as facility upgrades are undertaken, Dixon notes.

“Even though I have sold the big box stores,” Dixon says, “I set up Yorba Linda Hardware to sell the valves (locally). Homeowners can install the valves themselves, but most people are leery because of the gas.

“A good handyman can install these valves in about one-half hour. We do include in each box complete instructions and warnings to have a qualified person to install it. Yorba Linda Hardware has on call three or four qualified people to install,” Dixon notes.

The valves are warranted for 30 years, with no maintenance required and are reset by the customer with a quarter or small screwdriver, adds Dixon.

Another Dixon goal is to mandate valves on all Yorba Linda construction, which gets complicated due to convincing elected officials on the need and navigating layers of bureaucracy. “Once I find out the formula, I'll replicate this for every city in Southern California,” he says.

In explaining his motivations, Dixon says, “After retiring in 2001, I took on the task of advising the company on ways to expand the business to the public and trying to get cities to mandate (installations), for I've seen the lives that have been saved and millions of dollars of property that was spared....”

“My mission is to save lives, even if it's one person at a time. I've been preparing carefully constructed packets to present to the cities of Yorba Linda, La Mirada, Fullerton, Brea, La Habra and the county,” Dixon notes.

“Whether we want to believe it or not, we will continue to have moderate (quakes) or a severe earthquake someday. The United States Geological Survey said Yorba Linda had over the last year 900 seismic waves of 1.5 magnitude or greater, like the 5.1 we had recently,” Dixon cautions.