Fires are a devastating but all-too-common reality in South Africa’s informal settlements, where overcrowded living conditions, unsafe cooking practices, and flammable building materials combine to create the perfect storm. Yet for many families, access to basic fire safety equipment remains out of reach. This Burn Awareness Month, we would like to highlight Fire Killa, a proudly South African innovation that is reshaping the fire safety landscape through affordability, accessibility, and community empowerment. Developed by entrepreneurs in the FURTHER community, Bryan Moulang and Gerald Barth, Fire Killa is a tool for survival, dignity, and resilience.
Born from Urgency. Built for Impact.
The idea behind Fire Killa emerged from the sobering reality that fires in informal settlements often result in preventable loss – of homes, businesses, lives, and futures. “These communities are frequently overlooked when it comes to safety-related issues,” explains Bryan. “Access to fire suppression systems simply isn’t affordable or available.” Motivated by images of destruction and guided by his background in engineering, Bryan set out to develop a solution that would work with communities, not around them. The result was the Fire Killa Extinguisher – a low-cost, reusable, rechargeable, non-toxic, and easy-to-use fire extinguisher, designed specifically for the realities of informal housing and community kitchens.
Making Fire Prevention a Household Tool
Affordability isn’t just a cost issue – it’s a matter of life or death. When fire extinguishers are priced out of reach or require costly refills from certified service agents, they’re simply not a viable option for the communities that need them most. Fire Killa changes this. Its design allows users to refill and recharge the unit themselves or through trained community agents. This decentralised model empowers residents to respond to a fire before it becomes a disaster, saving lives, property, and reducing the need for costly emergency response.
A report by the South African Medical Research Council found that 3.2% of the population suffers thermal injuries each year, with the highest concentrations in low-income housing and informal settlements. Fires in these settings often lead to disabling physical injuries, psychological trauma, and long-term social consequences. “The best burn care,” Bryan notes, “is burn prevention and that starts with giving people tools that work in their reality.”
Real Fires. Real Impact.
In Mandela Metro, a woman running a community kitchen used her Fire Killa extinguisher to stop a fire caused by ignited oil. Thanks to the basic training she received, she was able to extinguish the flames before they spread, protecting the space where she feeds children every day. In another scenario, a user was able to stop a car fire before it escalated, saving the vehicle and preventing a potentially fatal explosion. These stories are more than testimonials, they are evidence that locally made, community-driven tools save lives.
Training and Empowerment, Not Just Equipment
Fire Killa’s approach goes beyond distribution. The team uses a ‘train-the-trainer’ model to ensure that community leaders, NPOs, and local fire teams can pass on essential knowledge. Training covers not just how to use the extinguisher, but how to store, refill, and maintain it. This turns passive users into active agents of prevention. “Awareness creates responsibility and when users feel empowered, they don’t just protect their own homes, they protect their communities too,” says Bryan.
A Circular Model with Sustainability at Its Core
While Fire Killa was designed with simplicity and affordability in mind, sustainability came as a natural result of thoughtful engineering. Every component is recyclable, refillable, and repairable, meaning damaged parts can be replaced without discarding the entire unit. Unlike conventional extinguishers, Fire Killa is not a pressurised vessel, which eliminates the need for costly pressure testing or third-party servicing.
By designing for reuse rather than disposal, the team reduces environmental waste and helps stretch limited community resources even further.
Looking Ahead: Scaling Safety Across the Continent
In the next five years, Fire Killa aims to place an extinguisher in every home, spaza shop, and taxi rank across South Africa and eventually, across the Global South. To get there, the team is actively seeking partnerships with government departments, aid agencies, corporate social investment programmes, and NGOs. These partnerships will help fund mass rollouts, facilitate localised training and support, and create employment through refill agents and micro-franchise opportunities.
Bryan also sees regional potential. “South Africa is part of the Global South and a key BRICS member. Our goal is to expand into neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, and beyond – anywhere that communities are at risk and underserved.”
Even though Fire Killa has been independently tested by FireLab based at the CSIR, a potential partnership with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) is also on the horizon. If adopted, a dedicated fire safety standard for products like Fire Killa could speed up certification and make it easier for other countries to adopt this life-saving technology.
A Fire Safety Solution by South Africans, for South Africans
Fire Killa isn’t just about stopping flames, it’s about starting a movement of accessible, community-driven fire readiness. It represents a shift in how we approach safety: not as a luxury for the few, but as a right for all.
This Burn Awareness Month, we celebrate Fire Killa and the visionaries behind it for showing that prevention is possible, empowerment is practical, and innovation is most powerful when it starts at home.
