IMAREC

Fire-safety app for emergency evacuation from large buildings.

North London schoolboy, Baran Kormaz (15), was inspired to design fire-safety app – which he calls IMAREC – after being horrified at the Grenfell Tower disaster in London last June.

Having been coding video games since the age of 11, Baran wanted to use technology to help familiarise people with the fire escape routes of large buildings, and assist the emergency services with evacuation.

The resulting smartphone app – IMAREC – uses augmented reality technology to superimpose a green ‘escape route’ line onto a video stream of the user’s real world surroundings. It can also point out safety features, such as fire extinguishers and alarm call buttons. In communication with the emergency services, the app can send them the user’s exact location and transfer live footage from the phone’s camera to help them plan and advise.

Despite having only ever coded games before, Baran made the prototype from scratch using off-the-shelf programming software with a ten-page technical specification written by him. It has already won two awards at the British Invention Show this year, including ‘International Invention of the Year’.

New features are being added to the app all the time, and Baran has had support from a firm specialising in indoor navigation. He is looking to partner with a major tech firm later this year to help see his dream become a reality – hoping to inspire others with his vision that technology can be an important resource in helping save people in emergency situations.