For firefighters any wasted second could mean the difference between life and death. Today crews from Boston to Los Angeles came to Connecticut to learn about a potentially life-saving device. News Channel 8's Kent Pierce was there as the device was put to the test inside a burning building... When a firefighter goes into a smoke-filled building he doesnt know how long he'll be in there and if he gets trapped or injured, he can run out of air in his tank. "A lot of firefighters get overcome by smoke and most recently a couple firefighters died in New York from running out of air and I believe if they had this product they would have survived." The product is something firefighter Eric George came up with - a filter that lets a firefighter breath for another 15 minutes after his air supply runs out. "A minute can make a difference when your life's on the line its just coming to get to that window, or having enough time for the rescue team to come find you." Firefighter Frank Ricci of the Council on Occupational Safety and Health organized this test of the filter. Firefighters from across the country came to Hamden for a series of controlled fires in a vacant building. They go in with those little "blue filters" attached to their air masks. They go through real firefighting proceedures, and when they come out, they sit down with a doctor who sees how much Carbon Monoxide and other dangerous gases they've inhaled. [Doctor speaking] "How are you feeling?" The initial results show Eric George's filter works perfectly." I thought there has to be a way to filter that out and prevent smoke inhalation in firefighters and here it is." On the strength of these tests, manufacturer Essex PB&R Corp., an Essex Industries, Inc. company, plans to sell the filter to fire departments "the numbers we're getting are very impressive, they're protecting firefighters. This study is essentially: instead of having our kids go to our funeral, it's us coming home and seeing our kids in the morning."