SARASOTA, Fla. — There’s a new potentially life-saving device in the works that could change how people protect their homes, and it was all created by a Sarasota teenager.
Pine View High School senior Henry Zhou has always had an appreciation for his local Sarasota County Fire Department.
“Residential fires still harm hundreds of thousands of people each year and cause billions of dollars in property damage, so I was thinking, how do I help solve this issue,” said Zhou.
“Of course, we are always going to be encouraging of any safety advancements within the fire service, whether it’s directly impacting us as firefighters or directly impacting the individuals that we serve,” said Ian Emmons with the Sarasota County Fire Department.
So Zhou, with a little help from the Pine View entrepreneurial club, came up with the idea for an automatic fire extinguisher that he calls the Smartvolly.
“And it connects to cellular devices so you can monitor temperature levels and sensor values for the device, and it automatically extinguishes a fire once a certain temperature is met,” said Zhou.
The Smartvolly ended up gaining the attention of the National Society of High School Scholars. Zhou was one of 10 students nationwide to present their invention to a panel of judges in Atlanta as part of the Be More Fund.
“Judges loved it. One was a congresswoman, the other was a CEO, they asked a bunch of questions, they thought I had a lot of potential, and they were wondering why I didn’t drop out of school yet,” said Zhou.
Zhou was awarded a $10,000 grant, which he plans to use to make this idea a reality.
“I wouldn’t pursue it if I wasn’t optimist, and I 100% believe in the device right now I’m getting a patent,” said Zhou.
He believes the device could revolutionize how people fireproof their homes.
“Right now, we have clunky extinguishers hidden in cabinets, and people don’t even know how to operate them because unless there is a fire, you aren’t really going to test it out,” said Zhou.
As for Sarasota County Fire, they say it’s refreshing to see a local teenager looking out for the greater good of the community.
“It's definitely encouraging because ultimately, the safest fire is the one that doesn’t happen, so the quicker that we can put out fires, the quicker the individuals that are in the home or business are safe, and my responding firefighters are safe as well,” said Emmons.
Zhou hopes to have the Smartvolly in stores by the end of the year.
“I suffered a severe medical challenge, and I know how it feels to be helpless,” said Zhou. “So I do want to help other people solve their problems, and I’ve always loved problem-solving in general, and to really reach people and to make a significant impact means the whole world to me.”
