It all began in 2010 when my family experienced a fire in our home. Other than a burnt washing machine, a melted tumble dryer, and a lot of smoke damage,  our family were completely unharmed. The thing that stayed with me was the horrible smell of burnt and melting plastic, as well as the lingering question: why did it happen to us?

 

Even now, more than 10 years on, the subtle hint of burning plastic brings back vivid memories of the moment we walked into our house that Sunday morning to find our house full of smoke, smelling of burning plastic and eerily quiet. The washing machine had caught fire and this was the aftermath. This story I kept in my mind as nothing more than a horrible memory. Until 3 years later!

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It was during a GCSE cooking lesson as I stood beside a classmate, the pan which he was using suddenly ignited, sending a huge flame flying towards the ceiling. The one thing that I will never forget, was the sudden rush of heat that hit me from side on. In the panic, no one was able to locate the fire blanket, so the pan was carried outside and hosed off, extinguishing the flames.

Thankfully, again, everyone emerged unscathed. The experience stays etched in my memory for a number of reasons, but none more so than how fast the fire developed. One second it wasn't there, the next it was over four feet high!​

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When we finally located the fire blanket, it was almost ten metres away and partially obscured by a cupboard and critically, would have cost precious seconds to retrieve.

Surely, there had to be a better way!​ 

 

This realization propelled me to develop the Flamethrow XR Pro 1.

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In her book The Heat of the Moment: Life and Death Decision-Making From a Firefighter, Dr. Sabrina Cohen-Hatton eloquently captures the essence of our mission: "those extra seconds, seconds that could be the difference between life and death."

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In fire emergencies, every second counts. That's why I've embarked on a mission to mitigate injuries and fatalities resulting from accidental fires. It's worth noting that cooking appliances are the leading cause of accidental fires. To address this, I've designed a patented cooking apron equipped with integrated oven gloves, doubling as a quick-release, accessible, and efficient fire blanket to ensure people's safety.