Fire Stopper

December 7, 2003 2:10 PM

Fire Paste (now with Diet Coke) - It looks like Project Grizzly's Troy Hurtubise, whose bear suit was recently referenced in The Simpsons, is at is again.
posted by boost ventilator (11 comments total)

Not to be confused with Coghlan's Fire Paste.
posted by boost ventilator at 2:13 PM on December 7, 2003

I love that guy. Oddly enough, I made reference to him this morning. I wanted his suit for playing with the cat.
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:25 PM on December 7, 2003

Smokey the Bear is absolutely fucked now.
posted by Stan Chin at 2:45 PM on December 7, 2003

I smell smoke. He has it locked in a safe. Is that not what patents are for? There is no reason to withhold the ingredient list, except that no one can independently test it, he is making a huge show of it.
posted by stbalbach at 3:36 PM on December 7, 2003

I make no comment on the legitimacy of the product, but he doesn't have to patent it. He could pull a Coca-Cola and keep the formula a secret. This is probably the more lucrative way to go if no one can figure out the formula from analyzing the resultant product.

I do find it amusing that he is using one secret formula as an ingredient in another.
posted by EatenByAGrue at 3:43 PM on December 7, 2003

Smokey the Bear is absolutely fucked now.

Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana Sphataya hum traka ham mam.
posted by homunculus at 3:55 PM on December 7, 2003

I just caught a Discovery Channel (Canada) report on Troy's fire paste, which is also on their site here (Windows Media Player, very choppy video, but OK audio).
posted by teg at 9:20 PM on December 7, 2003

Saw the same show. Pretty impressive stuff even thought the whole "save the shuttle" thing was way over done. The episode came across as an infomercial. Too bad he doesn't actually have a product you can buy.
posted by Mitheral at 12:30 PM on December 8, 2003

I smell smoke. He has it locked in a safe. Is that not what patents are for? There is no reason to withhold the ingredient list

For the record and in case anyone comes even later than me to this thread, a very good friend of mine was the producer of the Discovery Channel piece on Hurtubise's fire paste, and apparently the reason for the secrecy is that he doesn't have the cash together yet to take out an international patent. He's trying to find investors as we speak.

As for the "infomercial" vibe of the piece, all I can say is that my producer friend and everyone else who worked on it were all apparently just blown away by the experiment. It was totally legit, and it's a pretty phenomenal breakthrough for anyone, let alone an oddball doing experiments in his garage in small-town Ontario.
posted by gompa at 1:31 PM on December 8, 2003

Added Discovery footage bonus: Our Hero operating propane with flame-emitting tip 5m away from a tanker-trailer clearly labeled "FLAMABLE".

Perhaps it too was covered in paste?
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:00 PM on December 8, 2003

I saw this several months ago. I guess it's pretty hard for a Canadian oddball to get publicity. Watch out now, though. The MeFi Factor is in the mix!
posted by jmcnally at 1:34 PM on December 9, 2003