I’m sitting here with so many ideas spinning around in my head for the AT&T Public Safety hackathon starting tonight. And it’s hitting me harder than I expected. My heroes need my help.

My heroes, those men and women who respond to emergencies and run toward what everyone else runs away from, need my help. They are helpless to whatever they are exposed to. Explosions, toxic chemicals, injuries, unforeseen situations that can take their life away in a split second.

Sure, they are trained for common situations and don’t blindly go into unsafe situations. But there are people in this world who take pleasure in seeing these men and women, my heroes, for lack of a humane word, die. And these men and women, MY heroes, who protect ME, MY family, MY neighbors and MY city don’t deserve that. They have families, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, sons, daughters, grandchildren, and pets waiting for their hugs and kisses when they go home.

If you’re not infuriated by now like I am, you should be.

I grew up playing with firetrucks, fighting imaginary fires with my Lincoln Log houses, punching holes in the roof like I watched my heroes do in real life. Looking back, I guess I assumed the families and pets were safely out of the house by the time my toy firetruck arrived on the scene. My toy houses would be left in disrepair, but the fire was out. Then I would proceed with my next childhood interest, construction, and repair the houses so the families could move back in. Yes, I was a creative child.

I could have been a firefighter if the Internet didn’t distract me in my teenage years. Since I was a young child, I have always looked out the window for or at a passing emergency vehicle. And my adult heart always sinks when I hear the sirens. Not just for the person(s) they are responding to, but for my heroes in that vehicle.

They have NO IDEA what they’re racing towards.

With 9/11, there are no words to describe what happened before, during, and after. Lack of communication channels that efficiently managed the real-time information, lack of situational awareness for everyone involved, and lack of advanced techniques to problem solve fluid and dynamic problems (but really, how much can you prepare for in this type of situation) were some of the reasons my heroes lost their life.

Recently, the San Bruno gas line explosion, Boston marathon explosions and the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, are events that have had similar problems for my heroes . They are human and can only do so much. But technology can help. All those pictures and videos taken in Boston, with the help of technology, did a great job in the quick investigation. The people finder/I’m safe websites that pop up help locate people after the event. The I have a sofa websites that pop up to offer a displaced and traumatized person a place to sleep for the night make these tragic events a little more humane.

Coming back to the hackathon tonight and why this is affecting me. I have the power to help my heroes use technology to do an even better job. Let me clarify, they already do a damn good job. I have no complaints for how my heroes do their job. I’m actually speechless on why my heroes do a damn good job. They just do.

I have complaints for what “others” do to my heroes .

If I can help just one hero make it out of a disaster safely, they could be the one carrying ME, MY loved one, or MY neighbor (who I may not even talk with) out with them. This world works in mysterious ways, ways that boggle my mind. And I have the ability to help them. I work with technology that can make my hero’s life easier in these stressful situations.

So what am I planning to work on this weekend? I want to work on all three problems I mentioned above. But that’s a lot to tackle in 24 hours. We need to start somewhere and keep at this until…well, never stop. Yes, we can never prevent bad things and bad days from happening. But we can help my heroes when they do. We don’t need anymore really bad days.