By Patience Haggin
For Time Newsfeed

Paul Hyman, who volunteers as a local firefighter, is familiar with the difficulty firefighters face trying to see clearly in smoke-filled buildings. His inventions provided firefighters better equipment in adverse conditions–and provided the 17-year-old with a full college scholarship.

After becoming disoriented by smoke and flames in emergency situations, Hyman invented a miniature infrared camera that fits inside firefighters’ masks and allow them to see even through thick smoke and flames. He also invented a sensor which prevents a common cause of house fires by detecting when the lint in a clothes dryer is in danger of catching fire, and pre-emptively releasing carbon dioxide to snuff it out.

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