NASA engineers help create ingenious way to save homes from wildfires using noise

Scientists have created a miraculous new way to stop fires from spreading through neighborhoods using nothing but sound.

Former NASA engineers with California-based Sonic Fire Tech found that using sound waves can snuff out blazes and potentially be used to stop another Pacific Palisades inferno.

In order for flames to burn it needs three things, oxygen, fuel, and heat. The technology works by targeting oxygen molecules using low-frequency sound waves that vibrate them, stopping the fire from growing.

“Sound waves vibrate the oxygen faster than the fuel can use it, and break the chemical reaction of the flame,” Remington Hotchkis, Chief Commercialization Officer at Sonic Fire Tech told The Post.

The San Bernardino County Fire Department recently tested out the equipment using a backpack version and the results were incredible.

Video shows firefighters fighting small blazes on a shrub and a stove top fire with the technology putting it out.

“Our focus is fire. It’s the most destructive element that we’ve seen in California,” Hotchkis told KMPH. “Our former NASA engineers are rocket scientists, and they say it seems like magic, but it’s just physics.”

“They’ve been spending 15 to 20 years of their careers focused on outer-worldly problems. And it’s amazing that we get to bring those solutions to Earth.”

In the home application, the system would be alerted/activated if there was a fire, sending the sound waves through a home duct system, essentially snuffing out the blaze.

The sound waves can reach as far as 30ft from a home, the report noted. The sound is also harmless to pets and humans.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Hotchkis said it was after his former Altadena home burned down last year in the massive wildfires that swept across southern California, that he realized there needed to be a better way to fight fires.

“Just to see the devastation that occurred on that community level while transformers were exploding and hoses were running out of water pressure, in that moment I was realizing there needs to be a different way we approach this.” Hotchkis said. 

He said this technology could then be applied to help stop the spread of wildfires in the future.

“We are really excited about the new tech being presented to us,” San Bernardino PIO officer Christoper Prater told The Post. “We see this could really make a difference in both wildfire safety and home fire protection.” 

The CA state insurance commissioner’s office sounded hopeful about the futuristic way to battle fire too.

“Technology and innovation have an absolutely critical part to play in protecting people from wildfires,” one insurance official told the outlet. 

The cost for this technology is steeper than your run of the mill kitchen fire extinguisher, running about 1-2% of the home’s value for installation. But hard to put a value on something that could prevent you from ever losing all your precious belongings in a fire.

The Post reached out to the company and the state insurance office for further comment.