Detroit's firefighters may soon kick the pop can
DETROIT — Bye bye pop can.
That's what the Detroit Fire Department might be saying soon to its rigged-up emergency alert system. It could get replaced — for free — by one of several philanthropic software companies that recently learned just how bad things are in Detroit.
The revelation came when the Detroit Free Press published an article and video showing how Detroit firefighters get emergency alerts: A pop can filled with coins or screws gets knocked over by a piece of paper that rolls through a fax machine. The rattle signals an emergency.
For tech gurus nationwide, the pop-can story sounded an alarm.
"I just could not believe it. I thought it was a joke at first," said George Faucher, president and CEO of CorreLog, a computer software company in Naples, Fla.
Faucher believes Detroit deserves better and wants to help, as do six other software companies that expressed interest in donating a modern-day alert system to the fire department. Four companies contacted the fire department this week; three other interested parties contacted the Free Press, whose pop-can video story was featured on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" this week.
Faucher said after he learned about the plight of the Detroit firefighters, he contacted a salesman at the office and told them to contact the Detroit Fire Department.
"I said, 'Call them and say, look, we'll help you out. We understand the tough times that you are having, and we'll be happy to help you at no charge,'" Faucher said, noting his company is doing "quite well," and this is his way of giving back.
Faucher said the software system that he has in mind costs about $10,000. It's not designed specifically for fire stations, he noted, "but it's at least a thousand times better than a Coke can falling over."
Detroit's fire stations do have fire bells but they have to be triggered manually. This is done by the on-call firefighter who waits for the pop can to fall.
For Deputy Fire Commissioner John Berlin, the offers to help have been humbling. Calls have come in from as far away as California and Oregon.
"It overwhelmed me," Berlin said of the outpouring of support. "We need so much. ... What I was humbled by was that there was nothing negative said about the city of Detroit, or the bankruptcy. It was simply that they wanted to help. And that set me back a little bit. It humbled me."
Berlin said for now, fire officials are still gathering information from the interested parties who want to help. He said he wants to make sure that a company's donation is used to its fullest potential.
Hunter Giambra, who owns a fledgling software company in Tampa, Fla., believes he can help. The 21-year-old entrepreneur wants to come to Detroit, tour the fire stations, and come up with what he believes is a better system than a soda can.
"When I saw that (video), I was like, 'Wow! What if they don't hear that can drop?'" Giambra said, adding: "It was a very big surprise — for being 2014, and that's the kind of technology that they're using?"
"These guys need something that's going to work."
For Giambra, helping Detroit also means helping his company. He said he is looking to generate new business and get more name recognition. Creating and donating an alert system for Detroit's fire department could achieve that, he said.
Where the firefighters get their help from remains to be seen. But Detroit deserves better than a falling pop can, said Faucher.
"This is not brain surgery," he said. "This is something that we can probably help them with very quickly and easily ... and certainly bring them more into the new millennium."