Mr. Butt and Mr. Kelly first joined forces to design and develop a technology to mitigate the risk of kitchen range fires in 2006. In 2010, they incorporated Marsco Technologies Inc. to commercialize innovative safety products for residential, commercial and industrial applications.

The company’s first product, the FireRanger, reduces the incidence and danger of kitchen fires by detecting pre-fire cooking smoke and automatically turning off the range, removing heat from the potential flame source.

The FireRanger product is targeted at seniors and multi-unit residential dwellings, but also provides safety, peace of mind and reduced risk to family members and landlords concerned about loss of life and property as a result of kitchen fires.

Opportunity knocks

The invention of the FireRanger is another example of necessity being the mother of invention. Several years ago, Mr. Kelly, a professional contractor living in Vancouver, BC, was contracted to perform renovations on an assisted-living senior’s complex.

During the extensive renovations, a resident in one of the units placed a cooking pot on the electric range and subsequently fell asleep. This inattentiveness resulted in approximately $2,500 in smoke and fire damages. The same week, another range fire resulted in approximately $3,500 in smoke and fire damages.

The facility manager, frustrated with what she described as a rather regular occurrence, implored Mr. Kelly to find a permanent solution to this issue. Mr. Kelly could not find anything remotely close to what was needed. He discovered the market was saturated with smoke and fire detection devices, but nothing that would act to mitigate a fire.

Not easily deterred, Mr. Kelly proceeded to design a concept that would simply detect the pre-fire smoke and turn off the electric range. He had found a solution to his client’s problem, but a much broader market existed. At this point Mr. Kelly approached Mr. Butt, whom he knew to have an electronic and technical background, to ask if he was interested in partnering on the project.

 

Marvin Dean Butt – CEO

Marvin Butt, CEO, has spent most of his career in the area of electronic technology and in the last several years has gained experience in the customer service field. Marvin has also owned and operated two successful and profitable businesses, one dealing with sales and service of electronic equipment and another focusing on helping businesses to improve the customer service experience for their customers.

The lessons he learned from his various experiences and the strengths he has built in these roles will help him to avoid many of the pitfalls that new ventures typically experience. Marvin has a proven track record of understanding his environment and the various responsibilities that surround the success of any project.

His strengths include public speaking and training, the latter of which he is passionate about. He knows firsthand that to share knowledge and experience with others in an effective manner will lead to success for the entire team. These leadership capabilities, coupled with his technical experience and sincere desire to deliver high-quality customer service make Marvin a perfect fit to guide Marsco as it grows.

 

Scott Christopher Kelly – President

Scott Kelly has always been an entrepreneur. He grew up working in his family’s construction business, so the natural progression was to start his own construction company, which he did in 1987. That year he completed a Building Science Certification from the National Energy Conservation Association in order to be educated in environmental and health issues pertaining to building and renovating.

While still working in his own construction company, he and his brother opened a delicatessen enabling him to broaden his business management skills. Even though these two businesses were completely different, the experience Scott obtained from running a delicatessen proved invaluable.

In 1994, Scott moved to British Columbia and began taking on larger construction projects. He also still continues to manage his own real estate portfolio including rental property and buying and flipping homes.  In running various businesses over the past 32 years, Scott has developed a strong background in all aspects of business development, with a proven record of accomplishment. This has played a key role in bringing FireRanger to this point.

One lesson Scott has learned is that you cannot know or do everything, so surround yourself with those who do. This is what led him to approach Marvin to partner with him in the business.