A national safety company launched its new product line in Baton Rouge today, promising area fire departments faster response times, cleaner sites and lower costs. Arizona-based Cryo Response Inc. presented its line of CryoAssault products at the LSU Fire and Emergency Training Institute. The line centers around CryoPellets, nuggets of compressed gas that company president Christopher Noel says pose no environmental hazard and cost much less than foam. “There’s no cleanup, no toxic runoffs, no chemicals,” Noel says of the pellets, which dissolve from solid to gas after combating fire. “There’s no liquid, and no negative effect on walls and carpets.” In addition to the pellets, the company offers specially equipped vehicles and firefighting tools.
Cryo Response demonstrated its products at a 75-foot-wide tanker burn site at the LSU facility. Using a Ford truck specially equipped with remote-control technology and a pellet cannon, a company crew was able to extinguish the flame in roughly 45 seconds from a distance of 110 feet. Noel says it took that long only because the demonstration was remote-controlled from a nearby tower and was operating at 60% capacity. He says the exercise cost $30 in resources, as opposed to about $100 for class-A foam. For a photo gallery of the demonstration, click here.
Cryo Response has opened a Baton Rouge office, for which Tom Nolan serves as the regional director. Nolan says individual fire departments will decide whether to adopt CryoAssault, and that he is already seeing interest. LSU offers its facilities for informational purposes and does not endorse particular product lines. —Ian McGibboney
