Getting fighter friendly

Fire-fighting could cause other problems like flooding and electrical damage. In an effort to come up with a better fire extiriguisher,the US-based firm Charged Injection ofPrinceton,New Jersey, is developing a method to douse fires using an electrostatically-charged mist of water. The spray will inject a beam of charged electrons -fired from an electron gun -into a column of water, as it passes through the nozzle. The charged beam is attracted to earthed surfaces, including flames (New Scientist, Vo1150,No 2026).