LANCASHIRE firefighters will be teaming up with a group of their Swedish counterparts next week to put a revolutionary new way of tackling blazes through its paces.

Swedish fire and rescue equipment manufacturer Cobra has developed a device that can punch holes through brick, stone, steel plate, wood or concrete to gain access to fires and extinguish them.

Though a sophisticated piece of equipment, it relies on nothing more than sand and water to do its job.

Linked to a conventional fire engine, the machine injects particles into a high-pressure water jet to produces a cutting action.

Once the material has been penetrated the supply of abrasive is switched off and the water jet then emerges on the other side as a fine mist.

This rapidly gets to work on the fire and immediately cools the surroundings to make conditions tenable for anyone trapped inside and for firefighters sent in to rescue them.

Lancashire firefighters invited Helsingborg fire crews and Cobra technicians to put the equipment through its paces.

Paul Thompson, the assistant divisional officer at Lancashire Fire and Rescue headquarters, said: "This device and the associated techniques trialled by the Swedish Rescue Agency (SRV) show considerable promise as a way of fighting fires.

"Our SRV colleagues are still in the process of evaluating the equipment and we are looking forward to meeting them next week to see what it'll do."

BBC's Tomorrow's World will feature the demonstration in its April 3 broadcast and filming is scheduled to take place at the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service's Training and Development Centre, Euxton, near Chorley, on Tuesday March 26.