Firefighters testing new gel

AUSTIN (KXAN) - It might not turn water into wine, but it can turn ordinary H2-O into something that can help knock down fires.

Travis County Firefighters showed how adding a new substance to water creates a gel that acts as a fire retardant.

The product is called TetraKO .

The powder is made with cornstarch and creates a gel when mixed with water.  Firefighters can use it to coat a home or building  to prevent a fire's spread.

Or it helps to put out an active fir 10 times faster than water alone.

And it's cost-efficient -- about half the price per gallon of foams fire departments now use.

But the main question for Travis County Fire when considering this product: Just how well does it work?

"It works very well, and that's what I was looking for," said Travis County ESD 4 Chief Flo Soliz, "Is it going to be able to do what we all think it's going to do? And it does. It protects and it gives us an opportunity -- a fighting chance as they say."

The company that makes TetraKO says it's environmentally friendly, natural and bio-degradable.