RoGO Communications Showcases New DropBlock and Mobile App at APCO 2026 Annual Conference

 RoGO Communications, a company founded to develop lifesaving technology for firefighters and first responders, is showcasing the DropBlock 2.0 with a new mobile phone app to track the location of firefighters and equipment in locations where cellular service is not available.  

RoGO is exhibiting in booth 618 at the APCO Annual Conference Aug. 2-5 in San Antonio, Texas. The Association for Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) is the world’s oldest and largest organization of public safety communications professionals who manage, operate, build and support public safety communications systems for law enforcement, fire, emergency medical and other public safety agencies.

RoGO Communications Chief Executive Officer Rod Goossen, along with his brother Derek, who served on teams fighting more than 100 wildfires, founded the company to develop technology that will save lives of wildland firefighters following the tragic deaths of 19 firefighters in the 2013 Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona. The launch of the DropBlock 2.0 and new mobile phone app on June 30 was the 13^th anniversary of the memorial to honor the fallen firefighters and their families.

The satellite-enabled DropBlocks are now smaller in size and weight to be carried by wildland firefighters. The new RoGO mobile phone app enables point-to-point communications and displays the GPS location of firefighting assets along with fire weather data on mobile phones in austere, remote or cellular-denied areas when paired to a DropBlock.

The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management field tested DropBlocks with six wildland fire handcrews, suggesting the smaller size and adding point-to-point data communications to send messages to targeted teams.

Immediate tactical coordination and lifesaving situational awareness is enabled by tracking the location of crews, equipment and resources including bulldozers, water tenders, fire engines, high-value structures, medical evacuation rescue sites and makeshift water resources. DropBlocks also share hyper-local weather information and serve as portable weather stations, including wind speed, direction, temperature, humidity and other IoT sensor data.

Initially engineered to save lives of wildland firefighters to avoid being trapped by the spread of the fire, DropBlocks also support first responders in other all hazards emergencies including disaster responses for hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.

The new DropBlock 2.0 and mobile phone are being field tested now with a commercial launch nationwide anticipated in Q4 2026. Field testing began in Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District in Breckenridge, Colo., where RoGO’s Chief Strategy Officer Derek Goossen serves as a training and safety captain.

“Having accurate and timely accountability for our people and equipment on a large incident is important. Wildfire incidents often occur where we don’t have good radio and/or cellular coverage, so communication becomes challenging to say the least,” said Mathew Benedict, the Division Chief of Wildfire and Community Preparedness for Red, White and Blue Fire Protection District. “The DropBlock gives us a simple way to track our resources and provides communications where we may not have any. It can also provide and transmit critical weather intel back to the incident command post which is great.”

About RoGO Communications

RoGO Communications, a company founded to develop lifesaving technology for firefighters and first responders following the tragic deaths of 19 firefighters in the Yarnell Hill Fire, provides an advanced satellite integrated communication platform to enable tactical communications and collaboration, access scene-critical situational awareness data and track location and movement of wildland firefighting crews and equipment in remote areas where cellular service is often not available. Combining these abilities provides a Common Operational Picture (COP) for all firefighters. RoGO Communications services also support first responders after disasters including hurricanes and floods. For more information, please visit www.rogocom.com.

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I am the owner of Cerebral-overload.com and the Verizon Wireless Reviewer for Techburgh.com. My love of gadgets came from his lack of a Nintendo Game Boy when he was a child . I vowed from that day on to get his hands on as many tech products as possible. My approach to a review is to make it informative for the technofile while still making it understandable to everyone. Ben is a new voice in the tech industry and is looking to make a mark wherever he goes. When not reviewing products, I is also a 911 Telecommunicator just outside of Pittsburgh PA.

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