ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Orchard Park Fire District will be using a cloud-based software called Florian that was created by Buffalo-based tech firm 3AM to help save lives.
The fire district consists of three different volunteer fire departments: Windom, Orchard Park and Hillcrest.
It will be the first fire and emergency medical service provider in Western New York to use the software.
The district fire chief called the technology "indispensable," as the Windom Volunteer Fire Company, which is technically the only volunteer fire department that serves a major NFL team.
We first brought you this story in July when we spoke with the co-founders who explained how the software worked. You can watch the previous report below.
Florian is taking fire and EMS protection to another level. With the Buffalo Bills home opener this weekend, the Orchard Park Fire District will be putting it to the test.
"Everybody's safety is number one and our firefighter's safety is number one," Orchard Park Fire District Chief Jay Knavel said.
The software will keep track of the fire district's assets, its crew members and better protect the public.
Each firefighter will have a cell phone, but they are not just any kind of phone, they are stronger and more rugged, so they can withstand the day-to-day duties of the job.
"The firefighter will turn on their phone and put it in their pocket and do nothing. We can track them and communicate with them through that. Obviously, the radio is the first choice," Chief Knavel told me. "But we also can monitor where they are. We can send them to specific coordinates."
Chief Knavel said the software will be able to track firefighters inside a building and also use voice activation.
"We actually have our training getting in later today with the Chief and team here at Windom to use for the game day on this Sunday. We're excited to kick that off and really just looking forward to a safe and stellar football season," 3AM Innovations Sales Senior Director Izzy Rufat said.
There are other uses for the software outside of Bills home games too
"Uses of Chestnut Ridge Park, when we have rescues there, we have large manufacturing buildings where there are many floors and many big buildings. We don't want to be able to lose people," Chief Knavel said.
As a resident of Orchard Park himself, Rufat told me the Orchard Fire District leveraging technology for games will be a game-changer.
"Working together to protect our firefighters and knowing where people are and accountability so we work with a multitude of departments across the country but this is really special for us to work with our hometown team," Rufat said.
