Built by Firefighters,
For Firefighters
Reelix exists because one firefighter refused to accept that a painful, time-consuming process was just "the way things are done." This is that story.
A Problem That
Wouldn't Go Away
Blake Loring joined the fire service the way most do — with a passion for the job and an understanding that the work is hard, unglamorous, and deeply important. What he didn't expect was how much time and physical effort would go into post-incident cleanup.
On one of his first days, after a long call, Blake stood there rolling hose by hand — the same way it's been done for generations — and thought: "There has to be a better way."
That thought didn't fade. Shift after shift, year after year, the problem was the same. Repetitive bending. Wrist strain. The slow, inefficient process of coiling hundreds of feet of hose, by hand, after every single incident.
"Nobody was complaining about it because everyone assumed it was just the job. I started wondering why no one had fixed it."
The fire service has modernized enormously over the past few decades — turnout gear, breathing apparatus, command systems, communications. But hose cleanup? Still done the same way it was done fifty years ago.
From a PVC Pipe
to a Real Product
Blake didn't start with investors or a business plan. He started with a PVC pipe and a hypothesis. If hose rolling is essentially a mechanical task — feeding a long tube onto a core — could a simple tool make it dramatically faster?
The early prototype was rough. It was built at the station, tested on actual fire hose, and refined through repeated use. The concept worked better than expected. Hose that took minutes to roll manually could be rolled in a fraction of the time. Less bending. Less strain. A cleaner, tighter coil.
That PVC proof-of-concept has since evolved into Reelix — a purpose-engineered tool built for the demands of real-world fireground operations, not a controlled environment.
- Station-built PVC prototype — concept validated
- Real-world testing on standard 1.75" and 2.5" hose
- Engineering refinement for durability and ergonomics
- Product development phase — underway now
How We Build
Reelix isn't built on trends or assumptions. It's built on what works — because the people who'll use it demand nothing less.
Firefighter-First
Every design decision is filtered through one question: does this make a firefighter's job better? Not a focus group. Not a market study. The job itself.
Built to Last
Fire service equipment exists in brutal conditions. Reelix is engineered for industrial durability — not the lifespan of a consumer product.
Real-World Tested
Concepts get validated on actual fire hose, in actual stations, by people who've done the job. The lab doesn't have final say — the fireground does.
Be There When
Reelix Launches
We're in active product development. Join the waitlist and be the first to hear about testing milestones, availability, and launch announcements.