Smart Firefighting

At FRI Kevin had a chance to sit down with Matt Sloan of SkyFire Consulting . They discuss the difference between owning a drone and owning a drone program. They also dive into what SkyFire does to help fire departments take their program to the next level; on this episode of the Smart Firefighting Podcast. SkyFire Consulting is an organization that trains first responders in drone operation. They...

Kevin sits down with John Tippett of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to talk about the history of the foundation, the 16 firefighter lifesaving initiatives, and innovations changing the fire services. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is an organization whose mission is to honor and remember America’s fallen fire heroes, to provide resources to assist their families in rebuil...

At FRI Kevin had a chance to sit down with Brett Skinner and Zach Braun of FireHUD to talk about their biotrac platform. FireHUD uses a passive system that monitors and collects physiological data from its users to track their biometric status. Firefighters exert themselves more than any other profession. Their physical and mental condition is critical to their success. BioTrac Platform collects t...

At FRI Kevin had a chance to sit down with Michael Varney of FirstNet . They discuss how data is changing the public safety industry and how FirstNet is helping push this evolution. The mission of FirstNet is to deploy, operate, maintain, and improve the first high-speed, nationwide wireless broadband network dedicated to public safety.

The Responder X Live event in Chicago brought industry leaders from the public safety market together to see and interact with the technology of tomorrow. First-Due re-thinks pre-incident planning by collecting, analyzing, and formatting occupancy data. First Due is an application that brings critical fire service-related data to firefighters on their way to a call. The application connects online...

The Responder X Live event in Chicago brought industry leaders from the public safety market together to see and interact with the technology of tomorrow. Wi-Fiber is a network solutions company providing innovative and flexible products to strengthen a cities network infrastructure. Wi-Fiber creates decentralized wifi hubs for a city’s municipalities to connect. First responders rely on the netwo...

Kevin sits down with CEO of Responder Ventures Bryce Stritiron . They discuss Responder X Live, what attendees can expect to see, and what they hope to achieve at the event. Responder X Labs has teamed up with Amazon web services, W.S. Darley, Verizon, and other industry leaders to showcase the next generation of technology for the first responder industry. The event will allow public safety membe...

Chief Dan Munsey is Assistant Fire Chief of San Bernardino Fire Protection district, the California Fire Chiefs Association Operations section president, and part of the IAFC technology council. Dan has decades of experience in the fire industry. He has seen the evolution of data in the fire industry and how much things have changed and haven’t changed over the years. Everyone in the fire industry...

Squishy Robotics is a company that designs robots from tensegrity structures. These robots are light-weight, low cost, and robust, capable of surviving large impacts while carrying a payload. Squishy Robotics hopes their shape-shifting robots will inspire researchers and push the boundaries of our technological advancement. Squishy Robotics was funded through a small business innovation research g...

Wi-fiber is a company that creates network solutions for municipalities. Their organization focuses on finding innovative solutions to create private networks. They excel at creating plug and play networks that can be connected with additional nodes. One impressive advantage is that the system doesn’t require additional fiber past the first node. At CES 2018 in Las Vegas Wi-Fiber transformed the c...

Lumkani is a company that provides fire detection devices to informal settlements. The company’s fire detector is specifically designed to monitor informal settlements for rises in temperature. Millions of Rands of damage has been saved by these devices. The device was first conceived as a solution to problems with using standard fire detection systems in informal settlements. Most fire detectors...

Drones have become more accessible and affordable, which has led to first responders gaining a drone program. More than ever disaster response teams are using these drones to map the disaster area. Scholar Farms is a drone training company that trains industry professionals to use data collected from UAVs. Dr. Gregory Crutsinger worked in the ecology field when he became inspired by drones. He wor...

Kevin and Mike sit down to talk about 2019 Under Fire event in Texas. Under Fire is an event in the fire industry for emerging technology, first responders, and vendors. Sponsored by Texas A&M Engineering Under Fire gives an opportunity for startups to showcase their new technology to an audience of first responders. The first day of Under Fire was hosted by Firstnet. Firstnet is a nationwide...

Kevin sits down with Philip Tinsley of Venti LLC . They discuss hazmat sensing and how Vent i ’s Intelipod is a low-cost, lightweight solution to increase situation awareness. Venti LLC is a technology firm that provides first responders with innovations that enhance real-time data collection, giving first responders immediate situational awareness. The company was founded by a team of DOD and Aer...

Mike sits down with Todd Stave of Blue Vigil . They discuss the common power problem with UAVs, Drone safety, and the advantages of tethers, on this episode of Smart Firefighting podcast. Blue Vigil is a company that manufactures, distributes, and supports tether power systems for drones. Their main offering is the RS1000 Ground Power System. The system connects to a drone using a tether, which pr...

Kevin sits down with, Mauro Porcelli, the author of Surviving the Firehouse. They discussed Mauro’s firefighter and paramedic experience in the City of Orlando. He discusses how he decided that the premise of his book would follow a firefighter from first his first interest through his career to retirement. Kevin finds out which technologies most impacted Mauro’s career and what tech companies sho...

Kevin sits down with Cuong Luu to talk about the DHS’ Shaken Fury event. The event will take place in Birmingham, Alabama in August. The goal of the event is to prepare the city by integrating first responder capabilities in the event of an earthquake. DHS will also use the event to prepare for the 2021 wargame. To prepare for this event, the DHS has put out a Request for Information. The request...

Mike sits down with Brendan Stewart of AeroVista Drone Academy to talk about drones, the drone industry, and drone training. Brendan dives into being the 4th company to receive the FAA waiver for overflight of people and more. On this episode of the Smart Firefighting Podcast. AeroVista Drone Academy is a company that provides training for drone operators in the public safety industry. Public safe...

Under Fire is less than a month away. Kevin got a chance to sit down with Paul Siebert of Texas A&M to discuss what attendees should expect. They talk about the shark tank style pitches that will happen on day one. On day two the ten companies that advance will have a chance to “burn it, break it, blow it up” at Disaster city. TEEX PDC’s Under Fire is a two-day event. Twenty companies will pre...

What is a smart city? It’s a city that was built using data to create an efficient, eco-friendly, and safe urban landscape. The Digit group is a U.S company based in New York City that creates designs and blueprints for these cities. Cities built using data provide a safer and more fulfilling lifestyle to its inhabitants. To create a smart city, Digit Group puts together an in-depth analysis of pu...

Learn how Data Chief collects and distributes information to inform decisions of First Responders. Michael Heifetz of Data Chief discusses making data tangible for first responders, closing the info gap on data, and combining government data and grassroots data collection. On Episode 42 of the Smart Firefighting Podcast. What if first responders didn’t need to spend time collecting information whi...

Kevin sits down with Neil Lakomiak of Underwriters Laboratories to talk about innovation in the fire industry. They also discuss industry trends, collaboration in the fire service, how to help firefighters avoid technology overload. Underwriter Laboratories is one of a handful of companies that are approved to perform safety testing in the United States. It’s no surprise that technology being brou...

Under Fire is an event in the fire industry for emerging technology, first responders, and vendors. Sponsored by Texas A&M Engineering Under Fire gives an opportunity for startups to showcase their new technology to an audience of first responders. Startups from around the world pitch their innovative technology. The 20 best entries are invited to go head to head in realistic scenarios to find...

Learn how Chief Lambel used data to verify his department's decision-making process to relocate a firehouse within the city of Mount Prospect.

Kevin sits down with Tracy Eldridge of RapidSOS to talk about a common misconception that 911 telecommunicators know the location of a caller. Tracy discusses RapidSOS’ solution and how they can expand to relay more information than just location.