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Fan Male: Fighting Fire - With A Camera
Entrepreneur helps firefighters save lives quickly.
by Ralph McGill Jr.
July 1, 2008
F
rank Buonanotte was living the great American entrepreneur's dream. He turned his
intelligence, energy, vision and 100-hour workweeks in helping create two highly successful
regional companies here in Atlanta - The Shopping Center Group, a preeminent regional retail
developer and management firm, and Party City of Atlanta, a leading retailer of party supplies. A
loving wife and two teenagers and a lovely home completed the picture.
"I was living the dream," Buonanotte notes. "But living the dream was beginning take a toll
on myself and my personal life." He stepped down from his post at the Shopping Center Group in
2003, and then at Party City of Atlanta two years ago.
Ironically, it wasn't until Buonanotte, 53, decided to slow down a bit and maybe watch a little TV
that he truly discovered what was to become his purpose, motivation and focus in life. While
watching a documentary on The History Channel entitled Into the Fire, he had an epiphany. Although
he had no previous experience with fires or firefighting, he was incredibly affected by the courage
and dedication that the firefighting professionals exhibited, repeatedly risking their lives to
save others, with only the most rudimentary safety equipment at their disposal.
“Can you imagine crawling along a floor in smoke so dense you can’t see your hand in front of
your face with heat hot enough to melt your skin were it not for your protective coat with only a
limited amount of oxygen on your back? Hoping against hope to find a child still alive in the
burning building before the heat or lack of air takes you out of the equation? This is what
firefighters face daily,” he asserts.
His interest soon went beyond the television show. He started studying more about the risks –
and the heroism – of firefighters.
"I learned about how thermal imaging cameras can see through smoke and flame and locate
living victims trapped in the fire – even around corners, through walls and in the ceilings –
raising the odds of a successful rescue from 50 to almost a 100 percent,” he says. “ In fact the
studies show that firefighters can find a victim 99 per cent of the time and find their way out of
the fire 100 percent of the time.”
He read that studies show that the average victim search took eight minutes in a fire … and
it was reduced to three minutes with an imager. And how it took an average of four and a half
minutes to locate a downed firefighter – and how this was halved with an imager.
His first reaction was to write a check for a thermal imaging camera and give it to a
deserving fire department, but his entrepreneurial management instincts took over. Here was a cause
that appealed to Buonanotte’s “Hey, let’s get this done right now” personality.
It occurred to him that if he created an organization dedicated to raising money for these
imaging systems, he could be far more effective. Because less than a third of the 10,000 fire
departments in the country have these imagers, he was taking on quite a challenge.
He established a nonprofit organization called 500 for Life, which solicits donations to
purchase thermal imagers.
“I called it ‘500 For Life,’ and called upon businesses and concerned individuals to
contribute a minimum of $500 for the cameras, which is a reasonable donation,” he says. Buonanotte
covers the administrative costs of the operation, so 100 percent of the funds go toward benefiting
the firefighters. The cameras cost about $13,000. “And by the way, these firefighters are not all
burly 6-foot-6 guys – there are usually two or three female firefighters in virtually every fire
unit who daily risk their lives to save others.”
By the end of last year, 500 For Life had raised a half million dollars and provided imagers
at more 25 fire departments throughout the country. The nonprofit joined with the Fireman’s Fund
and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to identify needy fire departments. The recipients
are chosen from more than 1,000 departments that responded to a request for proposals for funds.
Locally, several fire departments, including those in Roswell, McDonough, Gainesville, and Canton
have received the cameras. And, the progress is continuing at an accelerating pace.
“Many worthy causes are raising money in hopes of finding a cure for fatal diseases that take
thousands of lives every year,” Buonanotte explains. “But for victims of fire, the cure already
exists. Just one imager has the potential for saving several lives every day.”
Buonanotte, who flies his own helicopter and enjoys traveling to extreme environments such as
Afghanistan, Borneo and Antarctica, has gained a new perspective on life since starting 500 For
Life.
Looking back, Buonanotte asserts, “I used to wake up every morning wondering how I would make
money today. Now I think about how I can get more thermal imagers to fire departments – a far more
rewarding pastime.”
