Kids' firefighting aid looks reel deal

An invention by Far North teenagers to make firefighters' jobs easier and prevent damage to fire hoses could end up being used around the country.

Reel Easy, a device made of aluminium plate and inspired by the lazy susan, is designed to speed up the process of "flaking" (folding) fire hoses into trays as firefighters pack up after a blaze.

Flaking requires three firefighters and, if no grass is available, the hose may have to rest on mud, stones or concrete. The invention keeps the hose off the ground and allows flaking to be carried out by two firefighters.

Hoses are flaked rather than rolled before they are loaded back on to the truck because that allows then to be deployed more quickly.

The invention was handed over to the Kerikeri Fire Brigade last Friday after firefighters took part in a mock crash organised by Students Against Drink-Driving.

Reel Easy team member Holly Sutcliffe, 13, of Kerikeri's Springbank School, said they came up with the invention while working on a BP Community Challenge.

The team wanted to do something to help the fire brigade so asked about the problems encountered at fires and brainstormed to come up with solutions.

"One of the problems was that hoses were getting damaged while they were flaking them, so we got the idea we'd make a kind of lazy susan thing," she said.

The students made a wooden prototype last year and, after a bit of refinement, firefighters and Kerikeri's Reef Rite Engineering helped them make an aluminium version.

Team member Timothy Richardson, of Okaihau, said they had been unable to find a similar product anywhere in the world. They hoped it could be put to use by brigades, who did "an amazing job".

Other members are Noah Atchinson-Darby, 14, Okaihau, Emily Derrick, 14, Kerikeri, and Anita Pasquale, 14, Russell.