01-04-2015 07:00

A company in America is developing the first personal handheld flamethrower called the XM42. It will be a device anyone can buy and will shoot out fire up to 25 feet (7.62 metres) away.

People at the company say that the XM42 will not be dangerous because it encourages people to use it away from people and things that they don’t want to burn. It says that it can do helpful things like melt snow and burn insects and plants.

The company needs money to produce the XM42, so it is asking for help at a website.

Difficult words: develop (to make something new), device (electronic thing), melt (to turn into liquid), encourage (to tell someone strongly to do something).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.