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A FIREFIGHTING beast that uses powerful jet engines generating gusts of up to 300 mph to extinguish flames is ready for deployment to help combat the raging Los Angeles wildfires.
The StormCell, described as a “hurricane on wheels,” is an advanced piece of technology designed to counteract strong winds that fan flames and cause fires to spiral out of control.
It is an off-road ATV-style vehicle with a jet engine mounted on top, and the compact design allows The StormCell to access hard-to-reach wildfires that standard fire trucks can’t.
The powerful tool also deploys large amounts of suppressant chemicals to help quench flames.
“Typically, in any fire situation, the wind rules the fire and if you can rule the wind then you can conquer the fire,” Steve Wolf, the founder of Team Wildfire – the company behind The StormCell, told TMZ.
“The only way you’re going to push back against 100 mph winds though is if you have 200 mph winds.
“So, my concept was to take jet engines, push them a mist injection system, which could then add suppressants, retardants, other firefighting chemicals to the mist and then drive that at the fire hard enough to push the fire back.”
As the dangers of out-of-control wildfires continue to threaten communities worldwide, Wolf said he and his team are working on mounting the jet engines on larger vehicles.
“We want to build these at different scales, everything from this little one on a UTV up to a massive one mounted on a logging skidder,” Wolf added.
“That logging skidder would then be able to get up into the areas where you see these fires and fire them where they are.
“Rather than the way the way it is now where the equipment basically stays on the road and they have to wait for the fire to burn up thousands of acres before it can get to where the fire trucks can be.”
Wolf said the small jet engine on the off-road vehicle can shoot winds as far as 120 feet, while the one on larger machines can blow gusts as far as 600 to 700 feet.
“You can really do a lot of good to save a neighborhood from burning down,” he told TMZ.
Wolf said the idea came to mind from his time as a special effects coordinator on Hollywood films sets.
“We took technology that had been used to make weather on movie sets and created that to a mobile platform, so that firefighters can control the wind and the rain in the microclimate where they’re fighting the fire,” he told NBC News.
Wolf said his technology costs about $150,000 to make, according to TMZ.
He said he and his team have been in contact with Los Angeles‘ incident management team and firefighting officials about how they can best deploy the powerful machine to active wildfire scenes.
HELL ON EARTH
The promising news from Wolf and Team Wildfire comes as Los Angeles fire responders continue to battle the raging fires in the city, which have scorched over 50,000 acres of land.
The latest Hughes Fire has started on Wednesday morning near Castaic Lake and has burned approximately 10,000 acres.
As the new Hughes Fire spreads rapidly, firefighters are still working on fully containing the Palisades Pacific and Eaton fires, which have torched more than 40,000 acres and left at least 28 dead since they began on January 7.
Nine blazes are currently burning across the state, according to the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
President Donald Trump is expected to make his first official trip to Los Angeles on Friday since taking office.
The president is expected to visit a ravaged area that was destroyed by the Palisades Fire, and will stop by a fire station.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has engaged in a heated war of words with Trump, who blamed wildfire detestation on his “failed leadership,” will greet the president as he arrived in Los Angeles.
Newsom has promised to confront Trump when they meet on Friday afternoon.
“I look forward to being there on the tarmac to thank the president, welcome him, and we’re making sure that all the resources he needs for a successful briefing are being provided to him,” the governor said.
“There’s no limit to the resources we’ll provide for that briefing.”



