Gels and Fires

I listened to a podcast the other day about a gel that saves your house from burning down during a wildfire. The photo on the right depicts the gel-coated finger of the inventor, Gorden Sabo, being blow-torched. He said in the podcast that his finger didn't even get warm. The stuff is sprayed on structures from a pickup/firetruck mounted system (below). The protection lasts 2-3 hours or for days if misted with water every few hours.

This story explains more about its history and use.
This San Diego Union Tribune news article mentions how it helped save homes and other structures on Palomar Mountain in this week's San diego fires.

Pretty cool stuff. No pun intended.