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High-Tech Tools for Firefighters, Part 1: The PyroLance, a Handheld Waterjet Cutter

Firefighters regularly risk their lives to save people, so we as a society should be providing them with the best designs for tools that help them in their work. One such invention, the newfangled PyroLance, takes a cue from the world of digital fabrication. With an assault rifle form factor, the PyroLance is a “transitional attack tool” that’s something like a handheld waterjet cutter.

When approaching a burning and enclosed structure, firefighters may need to breach it to fight the flames within. The problem is that breaching introduces a sudden influx of fresh oxygen to the fire within, which can lead to flashovers or backdrafts, catastrophic, potentially explosive escalations of the fire.

The PyroLance allows firefighters to remain outside of the structure and to cool the temperature inside of it–without breaching. By firing pressurized water loaded with a non-metallic (i.e. non-sparking) aggregate, the tool blasts a tiny 3mm hole through just about anything: It’ll blast through two layers of brick in 30 seconds, a concrete block in 35 seconds and ¾" plate steel in just under a minute.

Once the hole is formed, the operator changes the jet to a spray, which fills the room as an ultrafine mist that’s still under high pressure. The reduced water droplet size contained in the mist allows it “to absorb heat and extinguish fires in record time,” boasting a reduction of 900 degrees in under a minute, according to the company.

Here’s some footage of it in action. (Please note that the annotation “The powerful jet cuts a 6mm hole” is an incorrect statement added by Business Insider):

If you’re interested in the science behind how and why the PyroLance works, this video below explains further: