When Ray Tannatta first introduced the Highrise Lifeline in the early 1990s, it seemed to be all the rage, being repeatedly featured on national TV. 

“I got a lot of attention. I had people calling me from all over the country, all over the world,” Tannatta said. “At the time, I thought my product was working and the message is getting out there and people should be buying it. I had a company buy it but they never put it on the market.” 

Thirty years after its initial flash in the pan, the device is finally for sale. Tannatta is now marketing it himself online.

“It should be out there, it will save lives,” he said. “We lose 2,000 to 3,000 people every year in fires.” 

A former Schenectady firefighter for more than two decades, Tannatta invented the device after a local man died from smoke inhalation before help could arrive.

“I thought 'wow, if he could have just taken the trap apart somehow and was able to take a breath somehow out of that drain, which is in our system, he would be alive today,' ” said Tannatta, who is retired and lives in Niskayuna.

Also a master plumber, Tannatta got the idea to outfit a piece of equipment that hooks up to the trap beneath any sink, allowing a fire victim to breathe in the oxygen flowing from outside through a tube.

“It’s very important. We have essentially more air than the firefighters, because every 15 or 20 minutes, he has to go back down and change his air tank,” Tannatta said. 

Many years after his first attempt, Tannatta hopes the Highrise Lifeline will be the difference for someone in harm’s way. 

“I think it is my duty now, because they will know they have an option to save their life if they ever have the horrifying experience of being trapped in a fire,” Tannatta said.

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