Abstract: A method of freeing a coating of ice, snow or frost frozen on to the surface of a manufactured material, such as a metal partition, a masonry or painted structure, or a paved roadway or runway, by concentrating an intense beam of visible light on to the interface between the coating and the surface adequate to raise the temperature at the interfacial zone to the melting point so as to free the coating from the surface, and apparatus for carrying out this method. The apparatus preferably includes structure for immediately breaking and removing the coating.