Today, when a fire breaks out, you can be sure a citizen with a  cell-phone camera has posted it to Facebook or Twitter, or sent it to  the media.But up to now, that citizen has not been able to easily  send images and details of what is happening to the people who  need it most: police, firefighters and building-security people who must respond, and whose ability to help is often measured in minutes, if not seconds.  That's about to change.A one-year old company called Elerts has developed a system that's designed to mobile and social technologies to speed the flow of information between citizens and emergency workers in time of danger.The system involves free mobile applications--iPhone and iPad app  is available now--that eyewitnesses can use to report incidents and get public-safety warnings.And Elerts is offering a management console  for security firms and universities to receive the reports and distribute warnings and instructions, like a map with the best evacuation route  . The service is the brainchild of Chris Russo, deputy fire chief in the coastal town of Hull, Mass.As mobile communications sped up, he grew increasingly frustrated by his inability to communicate effectively with colleagues and the public, particularly with people who are at the scene and might be able to provide help. "Remembering situations when communications failed  _ ," Mr.Russo says.Last summer, he was in a search at a beach for a missing boy, who went into a bathhouse but didn't come out.First responders feared an abduction   on the beach or shark attack.The child's mother, who didn't speak English well, was so sad that she couldn't remember what color1 shorts he had on.Mr.Russo had no photo of the child, and no ability to turn to beachgoers. Two long hours later, the boy was spotted by a low-flying helicopter lost and alone on the beach crying--a lucky break."If 5 percent of beachgoers had an app to receive a message and send in sightings of a lost boy, the happy ending might have come much sooner," Mr.Russo said. The author takes Chris Russo's experience as an example to   _  .
advertise his creativity in communication inform readers how Russo got the idea of the service make the passage more interesting to read show readers the working principle of the new system