Govlaunch Podcast

Citizen hackers and Louisville join forces to reduce vacant building fires

Episode Summary

Louisville recently implemented an innovative pilot focusing on smoke alarms in vacant buildings with help from an unconventional source – hackers!

Episode Notes

Louisville recently implemented an innovative pilot focusing on smoke alarms in vacant buildings with help from an unconventional source – hackers! Louisville's Innovation Delivery Team, with support from different partners including fire industry professionals, sponsored a hackathon to see if anyone from the local community could come up with an inexpensive, wireless fire detector that could communicate via Wi-Fi or cellular networks. Through this process, hardware was developed (the device is named CASPER) and is now helping to quell fires in abandoned buildings throughout the city.

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Featured government: Louisville Metro Government

Episode guests: Ed Blayney, Civic Technology Manager for Louisville Metro Government.

Read more about how Louisville is taking a page from the tech world, organizing collaborative challenges to tackle everything from fire prevention to the digital divide.

Visit govlaunch.com for more stories and examples of local government innovation.