I had a dream about machines like this around 1969, but they weren't used for fires. I saw the machines enter a building heldup by gunmen and hostages (now we can call them terrorists!). The snakes (called SuperVipers in my dream) were strong mechanical devices with internal power sources and some electronics, measuring about twelve feet long and three inches in diamenter, and weighing over 60 pounds. They were made of a tough metallic compound (bullet, grenade and fire proof), had claws at both ends, could coil up and "jump" over ten feet when release as a spring, and had audio, visual, tactic, and thermal sensors to detect any human presence. They also had metal and radio detectors to distinguise who were the "bad guys" from the hostages.

Their primary mission was to sneak up on the gunmen, coil up and jump on them, coil around their bodies as a boa constrictor would, grab their arms with the claws, and knock them to the ground with its weight. The gunman would be held and squeezed until he was unconscient or dead, then the viper would let go and search for the next gunman. The vipers were silent, made almost no noise, can slip and fit through small holes, and can operate in total darkness. They were programmed to search for any human presence, but used their sensors to determine their final reaction. When all the gunmen were neutralized, they would leave the building, allowing regular security forces to enter and recover the hostages.

I hope this gives an idea for a movie. I would love to see them in action. New CGI methods would make them easy to creat on screen, but I hope they can become real. The claws can be modifed to grip or even crush the target, open doors and windows, drill holes, spray gas or mace, and even spray flames.

Raymond