Getting Warmer

To celebrate October’s Fire Prevention Week, the Home Depot and the Arnell Group are eschewing firemen calendars (and other hot ephemera) for a more useful project. Their Home Hero fire extinguisher is a simple, sleek, and ergonomic upgrade of the clunky 150-year-old device that nobody actually seems to own. “We needed to make something that people would be proud to have out on their countertops,” says Peter Arnell, honorary fire commissioner for the FDNY and creative director of Orange Works, his company’s joint venture with the Home Depot.

“We tried to create the anti-emergency language with this,” he says, explaining the streamlined Thermos-like shape and one-button nozzle system, which allow for single-hand operation. Clear directions on the back give the user ample ins­tructions while Home Hero is in use. “The calm aesthetic has been designed to create a balance between the emergency that’s happening and some kind of balancing leverage in your mind,” Arnell says. Exploding casserole? Just grab, spray, and “ommm.”