Orchard Park Fire District to use cloud-based software to save lives

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Orchard Park Fire District will be using cloud-based software. FlorianThe fire district in Western New York will be the first fire department and emergency medical service provider to use the software.

The county fire chief called the technology “indispensable” because the Windom Volunteer Fire Company is technically the only volunteer fire department serving a major NFL team.

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Florian takes fire and EMS protection to another level, and this weekend with the Bills’ first home game, the Orchard Park Fire District will put that to the test.

“Everyone’s safety is number one and the safety of our firefighters is number one,” said Orchard Park Fire District Chief Jay Knavel.

The software will track the fire district’s assets, crews and better protect the public.

“The firefighter turns on his phone and puts it in his pocket and doesn’t do anything. We can track them and communicate with them through that. Obviously, radio is the first choice,” Chief Knavel told me. “But we can also track where they are. We can send them to specific coordinates.”

Chief Knavel said the software can track firefighters inside a building and also use voice activation.

Every firefighter will have a cell phone.

These are not just any phones.

These are stronger and more sturdy, so they can withstand the daily tasks of the job.

“We’re actually going to be using our training today with the Chief and the team at Windom for game day this Sunday,” said Izzy Rufat, Senior Sales Manager at 3AM Innovations. “We’re excited to get this underway and really look forward to having a safe and great football season.”

The software has uses outside of Bills home games, too.

“The uses of Chestnut Ridge Park, when we do rescues there, we have large manufacturing buildings with multiple floors and multiple large buildings. We don’t want to lose people,” Chief Knavel said.

Rufat, an Orchard Park resident himself, said the Orchard Fire District’s use of technology for games will be a game changer.

“We work together to protect our firefighters and we know where people are and we know accountability, so we work with a lot of departments around the country but working with our hometown team is really special for us,” Rufat said.

The Orchard Park Fire District consists of three different volunteer fire departments: Windom, Orchard Park and Hillcrest.

Windom draws more staff on game day than the other two departments combined.