Kirk McKinzie
President, MCKINZIE SMART TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
For LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirkmckinzie/
Kirk McKinzie and
McKinzie Smart Technologies
Kirk McKinzie is an award winning SMART First Responder Technologist, providing subject matter expertise, consultancy, strategic partnerships, and project management aimed at digitally enhanced community risk reduction.
35-Year fire service veteran and 911-GO Founder
Kirk is a supporting international teams of teams as a speaker and author to government, enterprise, academia, start-ups, and operators focused on emergency response digitization and innovation for safer and more secure SMART communities. His focus includes, remote sensing, building information digital twins, bio-telemetry, IOT mixed physics computational fluid dynamics, holographic light displays, haptic feedback, 3D+ Virtual, Mixed Augmented Reality, machine learning and AI enabled lifesaving technological solutions.
ABOUT
Strategic Next Gen – SMART – SME – Connecting, cooperating, and delivering to regional, national, and global leaders in 360/3D/ SMART cyber-physical systems for saving lives. Leveraging 30+ years of hands-on and practical emergency responder and rescue experience, handling over 10,000 emergencies. More than 10 years in adjacent 3D/360 technology.
We are entering the 1st digital data revolution, where technology will make a difference in thousands of lives. These advances focus on life safety strategies in the areas of public education, first responder training, emergency response, and post-incident analysis.
Working with global leaders on system integration with the internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, machine to machine, machine to human, and mixed reality solutions. These individuals and companies are offering hardware, software, and technical support in the development of various platforms including helmet-mounted/heads up displayed 3D building plans, mixed physics computational fluid dynamic modeling, virtual and augmented reality.
PRESS CONTENT & PUBLISHED WORK
CTHRU provides visual communication and navigation, for Augmented Reality enabled Firefighters. For more, see Qwake.Tech.
International Technology Union – A.I. for Good, Fighting Wildfires with Intelligent Robots, 40 United Nations Partners, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. Read the related blog post: Robotics and AI to Predict and Fight Wildfires.
ERIS (Emergency Response Information System) live demo by ARCortex demonstrating +30% improvement in speed to rescue firefighters in simulated Mayday operations.
May 4th is recognized across the globe as International Firefighters’ Day. This international observance was instituted in 1998 after a devastating wildfire in Linton, Australia took the lives of five firefighters in the line of duty. On this day each year, citizens around the world are invited to remember and honor the firefighters who have made the ultimate sacrifice and show their appreciation for those who continue to protect and serve their communities.
In this episode of the Side Alpha Podcast, Fire Chief Marc Bashoor speaks with Kirk McKinzie, a fire captain (ret.) with the Cosumnes Fire Department, and Cosumnes Firefighter Justin Quarisa about their experience bringing immersive learning to the California fire department, how it complemented the department’s hands-on training, and what’s next for smart firefighting concepts.
December 12, 2019 Cosumnes Firefighters Training With Virtual Reality For the first time ever, fire academy recruits in Elk Grove and Galt are using virtual reality technology to train. It may seem like a video game, but the lessons are very real. They’re designed to help firefighters spot dangerous situations before they turn deadly.
Sacramento County fire department adopts virtual reality for fire training
Cosumnes firefighters in training battle flames in virtual reality
Cosumnes Fire Department presents new ‘virtual reality’ tech at training center
Feb 27, 2019 Fire Department Using Virtual Reality for Training – A local fire department is experimenting with virtual reality, and it hopes the technology could eventually give us a 360-degree live picture inside a burning building.
Invited Speaker Cal Chief’s Fire Operations Technology Summit, ESRI campus in conjunction with Firescope, Redlands, CA, February 19, 2019
“360-Degree Video Highway Safety PSA Debus, Tech Milestone for Cosumnes Fire” – February 4, 2019, Theo Douglas
“360 -Degree Video Message is Cosumnes fire’s First Public Deliverable” – January 21, 2019, Theo Douglas
AUTHORED CONTRIBUTIONS
Kirk McKinzie and Stefan Truthan, “Enhancing Fire-Rescue and EMS Operations with SMART Systems.” Fire Engineering, March 2024
Kirk McKinzie and Manon Vermenouze, “Intelligent Robots: Opportunities, Challenges, and Current Value in Fire and Rescue Operations.” Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment, October 10, 2023
Going Virtual: Inside One Fire Department’s Journey into Immersive Learning, Fire Rescue1, K. McKinzie, J. Rider, and J. Quarisa, March 19, 2021
“J. Quarisa, J. Rider, K. McKinzie, How the Cosumnes Fire Department Incorporates Virtual Reality into Its Fire Academy Training, Fire Engineering, May 1, 2020
“The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Firefighting.” October 25, 2018 – A.I. data collection – Department of Homeland Security S&T, NASA, and Cosumnes FD. Special appreciation for article assistance to Ms. Evrim Bunn – DHS S/T.
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS
Presented at California Fire Chiefs Association “The Art of the Possible” Emerging Technologies for the Fire Service / Co-curated and moderated 11 enterprise technology solutions speakers. Agenda via CalChiefs.org.
“Augmented Reality in a SMART Suite of Public Safety and Emergency Response Solutions,” AR in Action, MIT Media Lab, Boston, MA, January 17th and 18th.
Smart Firefighting Roundtable – Immersive Learning and Public Safety. Looking at the “art of the possible” with XR and VR dynamics. November 8, 2022
Smart Firefighting Roundtable – Fire Modeling and Fire Evacuation Modeling. Discussing group evacuation, affiliated theory, fire escape planning and much more. September 28, 2022
Smart Firefighting Roundtable – Wildfire Technology Discussing the community risk reduction and being proactive, looking at drones, using satellite data imagery, the evolving threat to First Responders, and more. August 1, 2022
Smart Firefighting Roundtable – Smart Apparatus The first Smart Firefighting Roundtable discusses the Smart Apparatus, the wants and needs, and the biggest obstacles. August 1, 2022
Technological implementation in public safety remains an under-appreciated dimension of innovation. This panel on Technology Innovation in the Public Safety Sector: From the Lab to the Field features nationally-known experts who bridge the gap between novel technologies and successful implementation in the field. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, April 20, 2022.
This session discusses the development and benefits of XR training technologies for firefighters and first responders as well as the impact on learner progress and retention. X.R. Today, August 25, 2021
Invited panelist “International Roundtable – Leadership in the Fire Service”, hosted by Ops Central, online July 30, 2021.
Invited mentor to “Beat the Blaze Hackathon” challenge teams, hosted by the National Security Innovations Network, March 29 – April 16, 2021.
Invited panelist, “The Future of the Fire Service”‘ hosted by Ops Central – online, April 14, 2021.
Invited guest lecturer and mentor, University of California Berkeley course – “Innovation in Disaster Response, Recovery, and Resilience”, in conjunctions with National Security Innovation Network – Hacking for Defense (H4D). spring 2021.
Guest Speaker, Battlespace Exploitation of Mixed Reality (BEMR) Lab, Technical Exchange on Augmented Reality, Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC PAC). Hosted by National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), “A Suite of SMART Solutions” Online, February 23, 2021.
Educators in VR with RiVR, Kirk McKinzie and Engage, Live online in 3D – May 14, 2020.
Hosted Speaker, Fire Department Instructor Conference-International (FDIC) – Indianapolis, Indiana, April 11, 2019
AWARDS
1st Place Mass Transit Accident Scenario and 4th place overall in National institute of Standards and Technology – Public Safety Communications Research Division – CHARIoT Challenge. Member Emergency Response Information System (ERIS).” Detailed here: https://www.nist.gov/ctl/pscr/team-emergency-response-information-system-eris-arcortex
Innovation Award, Presented for successfully translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value within the Cosumnes Community Services District, September 24th, 2019
Revolutionary Technology Award 1st Place Local Government, Public Sector Partners – RevTechX , May 16 2018
EXPERIENCE / PROJECTS
Subject Matter Expert and Judge for the National Institute of Standards and Technology-Public Safety Communications Research, 3D indoor mapping grand challenge 2018-2023
First Responder SMART Tracking (F.R.S.T.) Challenge, provide challenge design, S.M.E. support, and Judging, in conjunction with the National Institute of Standards and Technology – Public Safety communications Division, 2018-2023. This competition exists to identify 3D tracking technology for first responders in an indoor setting with one-meter accuracy.
Provided mentorship to competitors in the national challenge and attended final down select. May 25, 2022.
Experience Project “SMART Firefighting Act for the 21st Century, 2018” – AB2811 – Led by Assemblymember Heath Flora, 21-0 committee vote for proposed $25M next-gen OES SMART fund.
Fire Ops 101 at the California State Capitol – Legislator orientation and live fire demo, 2012 and 2014,
First Responder Resource Group, Attend SME events – Co-develop Statement of Objective (SOO) for technologies related to defined gaps and suggested solutions in support of first responders across the U. S. and partner nations.
Provided SME support for hackathon teams: National Security Innovation Network, Polar Vortex Hackathon, provide competitors mentorship for D.O.D. hackathon
Online Judge for Tech to Protect, in accordance with the America COMPETES Re-authorization Act of 2010, (as codified in 15 U.S.C. 3719 as amended). Appointed by Under Secretary of Commerce for National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
PARTNERS
