Amazon Alexa camera alerts homeowner to Spring Hill fire
Amazon Alexa alerts homeowners to fire
It was a close call in Hernando County Wednesday morning when a fire broke out in a Spring Hill home. No one was home at the time except for the family dog. It was a gadget in the living room that alerted the homeowner and helped get the fire contained to one room. FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis reports.
SPRING HILL, Fla. - A smart home camera helped alert a Spring Hill homeowner to a fire Wednesday morning, giving firefighters a chance to contain the flames before they spread beyond one room.
Hernando County Fire Rescue says no one was home when the fire started, except for the family's dog.
Amazon Alexa alerts homeowners
The backstory:
The Amazon Alexa camera detected smoke inside the home and sent an alert to the homeowner.
The homeowner checked the camera, saw the smoke and called 911.
Courtesy: Hernando County Fire Rescue
Firefighters responded to the home and contained the fire to one room before bringing the dog to safety.
The fire started in a bedroom, but smoke could be seen filling the living room in footage captured by the camera.
Safety features in your phone
Dig deeper:
The technology that helped in this fire is just one example of emergency features that may already be available in devices people use every day.
iPhones 14 and newer, along with some Apple Watch models, have crash detection technology that can automatically call emergency services after a severe car crash.
If the person is unresponsive, the iPhone can also provide first responders with the phone's latitude and longitude coordinates.
Android smartphones offer a similar crash-detection feature.
Other safety features
What they're saying:
Ian Marlow, CEO of FITECH Consultants, says homeowners can also connect other devices to their phones to receive alerts about potential problems.
"I also have leak detection, like in my own home, which is a product from Kidde. They're very small, battery-powered, little lithium-ion, little circular pieces, and you put them under every sink, you put them in the air conditioning pan and whenever you, you don't get a leak of any form, I get a notification," he said.
Newer General Motors vehicles, including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models from 2025 and later also come with OnStar technology that can use built-in sensors to automatically notify a representative after a moderate to severe crash.
Apple Watch users can also enable fall detection, which can help contact emergency services if the wearer takes a hard fall.
Enabling the features
What you can do:
Not all safety features are enabled automatically.
Apple's crash detection feature is automatically enabled on supported devices, while other features, such as fall detection, need to be turned on in the device's settings.
Marlow recommends taking a few minutes to check which emergency features are available on your devices — and making sure they're enabled before you need them.
The Source: FOX 13 spoke with Hernando County Fire Rescue about the Spring Hill house fire and Ian Marlow, CEO of FITECH Consultants, about emergency and safety technology available in homes, smartphones and vehicles.