The Elide Fire Ball: The Next Generation of Fire Extinguishing

The next generation of fire management technology is on the market, and it’s shockingly easy to use.

The Elide Fireball is turning heads and getting attention in the firefighting community for its revolutionary approach to extinguishing fires.

The process is simple: when met with fire, the Elide Fire Ball explodes to extinguish it. The ball, roughly the size of a soccer ball, contains fire-extinguishing chemicals like those contained in a typical home/office-use metal fire extinguisher, and when the ball is triggered, it explodes to release the concoction.

Elide Fireball Practicality for Use

While the ball can be easily tossed onto an ignited surface to act immediately, there are other—and perhaps more practical, as Popular Mechanics notes—uses for the extinguisher, as recommended by the Thai manufacturer. In fact, the ball was created specifically for the less-aggressive use, following a devastating 1997 fire in the Royal Jomtien Hotel. And it’s the extinguishing method that makes the Elide Fire Ball truly unique. When installed near the possible or probable location of a fire, the ball is able to react instantly on contact with fire, meaning a faster extinguishing with no human intervention necessary.

It’s clever and unique, that’s for sure, but is it a viable solution in most cases? Popular Mechanics’ Eric Limer offers that no, its novelty is notable but probably also what has kept it from gaining major attention—the product has been in demos for over three years. The Fire Ball “would be a nightmare, for instance, if you were just trying to put out a small kitchen fire on your stove…or anything where you could conceivably ‘miss,’” Limer writes. In cases where precise aim and collateral damage are important factors, a traditional extinguisher, though not as cool, is probably the better bet for the job.

Still, who can help but be impressed by the intent and creativity of the Elide creators? See videos of the Fire Ball in action here.