Home Podcasts Smart Firefighting
Smart Firefighting

Smart Firefighting

Smart Firefighting 329 Episodes Jun 25, 2026

Smart Firefighting Podcast covers real-world deployments of smart technologies through conversations with technologists, innovators, companies, and forward-thinking public safety and government agencies. Learn from interviews with leaders as they share their insights and offer their expertise every week. Host Kevin Sofen is a co-founding member of the Smart First Responder Community who loves to explore change management and technology in public safety.

Episodes

Episode 322: Inside Panasonic Tough Command: Connected Vehicles for Emergency Response with Kjeld Lindsted Jun 25, 2026 2541 Most first responder vehicles are full of technology that does not talk to itself. A dash cam here. A radio there. An MDT, a license plate reader, lights and sirens, all from different makers, all siloed. The data exists. It just never lands in one place where anyone can use it. Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fi
Episode 321: Building for Chaos, Not Compliance with Bailey Farren – Perimeter Jun 11, 2026 1693 Bailey Farren is the co-founder and CEO of Perimeter. In 2017 she was evacuated from the Tubbs Fire, and what she saw that night, people with no way to know where the danger was or where to go, became the problem she has spent the better part of a decade solving. Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and t
Episode 320: He Missed the Hydrant, Then Built the Tool to Ensure No One Else Does. Rapid Response Co with Bobby Banome May 21, 2026 3294 Bobby Banome is an FDNY firefighter from Staten Island who got tired of arriving at fires without the information his crew needed. So he built something. Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy. Eleven years
Episode 319: How Garage Is Fixing the Broken Secondary Market for Fire Apparatus with Martin Hunt May 14, 2026 2789 The secondary market for fire apparatus runs on Facebook groups, newspaper classifieds, and local auctions. A small town in Texas budgeted $100,000 for a used truck sale. Garage got them $1.3 million. That is what happens when you put infrastructure behind a market that has never had any. Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via intervie
Episode 318: Training Is Lived, Not Lectured - VR Training for Firefighters with Evan Sitler-Bates and Drew MacNeil from XpertVR May 7, 2026 2083 Firefighters train all year, but most of it is death by PowerPoint. Evan Sitler-Bates and Drew MacNeil, co-founders of XpertVR, are building a different answer: immersive virtual reality simulations where firefighters actually do the work instead of watching someone describe it. Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fi
Episode 317: Bridging Firefighters and Engineers Through Leadership and Trust with Mark Reilly Apr 30, 2026 757 What does leadership really look like when lives are on the line? Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy. Recorded live at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) 2025 Conference alongside the AFAC, WAFA, a
Episode 316: Why Mental Health Conversations Matter in the Fire Service with Max Cottingham Apr 23, 2026 1316 It’s okay to not be okay. The question is, who notices? Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy. Recorded live at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) 2025 Conference alongside the AFAC, WAFA, and Austral
Episode 315: When Fire Protection Has No Rulebook with Alex Starkey Apr 16, 2026 731 What happens when fire protection standards do not apply? Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy. Recorded live at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) 2025 Conference alongside the AFAC, WAFA, and Austr
Episode 314: Reducing Risk Before It Becomes Disaster with Emma Whale & Amanda Leck Apr 9, 2026 1091 What does risk really mean when the stakes are rising for entire communities? Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy. Recorded live at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) 2025 Conference alongside the A
Episode 313: Why First Responders Need One Global Language for Safety with Kurt Vollmacher Apr 2, 2026 704 How do you prepare firefighters for risks that did not exist 10 years ago? Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy. Recorded live at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) 2025 Conference alongside the AFAC
Episode 312: From Close Call to Safer Fireground Operations with Matt Simmonds Mar 26, 2026 629 What starts as a routine task on the fireground can quickly turn into a life threatening moment. For Matt Simmonds, that moment came while rolling hose after a fire, when a passing vehicle nearly struck his crew. That close call sparked a question that many firefighters have quietly accepted for years. Is this really the safest way to do this job, or is there a better way? Hello Smart Firefighting
Episode 311: Moving Communities Out of Harm’s Way with Gavin Smith Mar 20, 2026 847 What happens when a community faces the reality that staying in place is no longer safe? Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy. Recorded live at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) 2025 Conference alon

Recommended