First responders trainingOn-demand emergency responder training

A service providing emergency responder training via a video on-demand solution offers a new way for first responders to receive their required monthly training. The service allows fire, police, EMS, and military to provide their training video library through an on-demand delivery to any television. The service allows responders to select a video through a graphical menu on the television screen and then play, pause, restart, rewind or fast forward the video.

The company, Trainlu, was founded by Michele Smith, the wife of a firefighter and a computer programmer out of Atlanta, Georgia.

“The amount of monthly training that first responders complete every month requires a video on demand solution” stated Smith. She says that after realizing that her firefighter husband had to spend countless hours in front of a computer screen every month to complete his required training, she knew there had to be a better way. “My husband is in a station with 7 other firefighters and they only have two computers. Each firefighter is required to complete 6 hours of video training per month over the computer. With 8 people completing the same hours that adds up to 48 hours of total computer time. When you add in the required routine tasks and responding to emergency calls, the firefighters struggle to get everything done in the shift,” she said.

Smith founded Trainlu to address this problem. “Trainlu is a simple and affordable solution that allows each department to upload their training videos to a hosted library. Each station then uses a Video On Demand Codec that attaches to the television that streams the training video on demand by using a simple remote control. The videos are transferred to the video on demand device via the station’s wireless router. Trainlu uses the same technology that Netflix uses to stream movies to your home television,” she said.

The on-demand solution allows each firefighter to watch the training video at the same time. This saves time and allows the firefighters to be more efficient.

“The Trainlu system is very affordable, the monthly cost is $49 per video on demand device which is one per station, with only a $2,500 initial channel development fee. The major goal was to make the solution affordable. With furloughs and budget cuts all across the nation, I knew price would be the most important aspect. The goal was to solve the training problem with a solution that even smaller departments could afford,” Smith said.