Former UCT students created a nifty and lifesaving DIY foam fire extinguisher eight years ago. Today, it’s one of the internet’s favourite DIY hacks, making fire safety more affordable and accessible!
Global (14 June, 2023) — Two former University of Cape Town students and their life-saving creation, have won a popularity contest they didn’t even know they’d entered. Once the internet caught wind of their DIY foam fire extinguisher, it was only a matter of time before it snowballed into one of the most popular life hacks.
Eight years ago, the UCT alumni collaborated to work on an existing concept; creating a simple fire extinguisher as part of their final year of chemical engineering. The developed idea needed to be both cost-effective and accessible, created specifically with communities who live in informal settlements in mind. For these communities (both then and even more so now) fire is a constant threat due to popular paraffin usage. The wrong spark can easily leave an entire tightly woven community destitute, which made the project even more of the essence.
Desania Govender and Yandisa Sojola teamed up for the task.
The design expansion saw a product that was simple, easy to create and low maintenance. Their DIY extinguisher required only waste and household products to operate, like a two-litre cool drink bottle, water, vinegar, dishwashing liquid and bicarbonate of soda, as UCT explains.
“What drew us to the project is that it would impact the community,” Govendar shared.
The students would go on to graduate, spread their wings and enter the workforce, not knowing that their 2015 creation would earn more than good grades—reaching and helping more lives than they could’ve imagined.
From 2022, the project soared onto international radars, not least because of loadshedding’s rise and the fire hazards related to it. This year, it climbed the helpful tips ladder, becoming the most popular DIY hack on platform dooiy.
Because the engineering duo had created a pamphlet accessible through technology, the dooiy founders were able to source the info and share it with people around the world.
The site’s founder, Marlene Lerch is also the founder of a non-profit ‘Hack Your Shack’.
Beyond sharing the life-saving hack, Lerch also took the concept to leaders to help fire-impacted people in South Africa. 120 fire extinguishers were made in a single afternoon, and since then, Hack Your Shack has gone on to run fire extinguisher workshops all over the Western Cape, even launching DIY fire extinguisher workshops.
One day’s project is another day’s impact!
See the hack here.
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