17-year-old Arul Mathur has developed a new fire extinguisher（灭火器）to help put out wildfires near houses. The fire extinguisher is called the Fire Activated Canister Extinguisher（FACE）.

Over the past three years, there have been almost 7,500,000 acres of wildfires in California alone, which demolish nearly 50,000 buildings. This has caused many local people to become homeless. Arul grew up in New Jersey where wildfires were hardly heard of. After moving to California in 2012, he began to hear about wildfires. In the summer of 2019, a wildfire threatened his family to leave their home. Upon questioning himself on the reason behind the spread of wildfires, Arul realized the fact. By the time firefighters get the notice of a wildfire, the wildfire has already grown out of control.

FACE can help stop wildfires before they burn houses. It puts out wildfires by itself after sensing extreme heat without humans. It can stand the extreme condition which is a high-temperature environment. Moreover, it has a bracket（支架）that allows it to be placed in a variety of high-risk areas. Unlike traditional fire extinguishers, FACE has a mixture of water and an environmentally-friendly fire retardant（阻燃剂）within it.

Arul said, "I think that by owning FACE, people no longer have to rely on the fire department to save their houses." Firefighters could focus on controlling the fire, while people could protect their homes. He is now running a pilot test with some of his friends from the media platform Kickstarter. He said, "In general, FACE has been very well-received through the media platform."

Arul has great interest in fire safety and prevention and actively searches for ways to spread awareness. He loves to explore advances in technology and he is happy to give communities some advice on fire prevention. Arul is now planning to develop larger units for specific use in forest applications. He said, "Humans have seen great progress in technology. Now, we need to use present technology to develop more environmentally-friendly solutions for fire prevention.”

It was 3:12 a. m. when nine-year-old Glenn Kreamer awoke to the smell of burning. Except for the crackling of flames somewhere below there was not a sound in the two-storey house at Baldwin, Long Island. With his father away on night duty at a local factory, Glenn was worried about the safety of his mother, his sister Karen, 14 and his 12-year-old brother Todd. He ran downstairs through the smoke filled house to push and pull at Karen and Todd until they sat up. Then he helped each one through the house to the safety of the garden. There, his sister and brother, taking short and quick breaths and coughing, collapsed on the lawn.

The nine-year-old raced back into the house and upstairs to his mother’s room. He found it impossible to waked her up. Mrs. Kreamer, a victim of the smoke, was unconscious, and there was nobody to help Glenn carry her to the garden. But the boy remained calm and, as a fireman said later, “acted with all the self-control of a trained adult.”

On the bedroom telephone, luckily still working, Glenn called his father and, leaving Mr. Kreamer to telephone the fire brigade and ambulance service, got on with the task of saving his mother.

First he filled a bucket with water from the bathroom and threw water over his mother and her bed. Then, with a wet cloth around his head he went back to the garden.

He could hear the fire engine coming up, but how would the firemen find his mother in the smoke-filled house where flames had almost swallowed up the ground floor? Grasping firmly a ball of string(线绳)from the garage, Glenn raced back into the house and dashed upstairs to his mother’s room. Tying one end of the string to her hand, he ran back, laying out the string as he went, through the hall and back out into the garden.

Minutes later he was telling fire chief John Coughlan: “The string will lead you to mother.” Mrs. Kreamer was carried to safety as the flames were breaking through her bedroom floor.

Mallory Haske surfs nearly every day in the summer, and it really annoys her to see trash(垃圾) in the water or on the beach. So when her high school English teacher assigned a passion project, Haske came up with a creative idea that connected surfing and trash.

She collected litter on the beach and used it to create a surf board in an effort to raise awareness about ocean pollution. “The feeling of catching a wave is fantastic. It’s such a men-tal release,” said Haske, standing on the beach waxing(上蜡) her newly finished trash board. “I really hope it floats.”

Her teacher assigned the project months ago and was surprised to see how Haske’s enthusiasm about it grew throughout the school year. “Not every student found her passion, but she did,” said the teacher. “I’m super proud of her.”

Over the winter, Haske, who would graduate soon, collected litter including cigarette butts, bottle caps, fast-food containers and masks along the resort area beach. “It was definitely a unique challenge,” Haske said.

She landed a sponsor and raised money from friends to create the surf board, which cost about $1,000. Haske takes custom orders and helps people build their own surf boards. Making one out of trash was a first for her. Nearly the entire board is made from recycled material and litter.

On Tuesday after school, Haske went out and attempted to ride a wave on her new board, but the mostly flat conditions made it difficult. The nose of the surfboard made by herself kept going under the water, but Haske stayed upbeat. “It’s pretty heavy up front, but it’s going to be my best friend,” Haske said after coming out of the water. “It’s made for large waves.”