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The device is a small blue box that measure the rate of temperature rise rather than detecting smoke which helps in reducing false alarms.[5] The network of Lumkani devices in a specific slum uses radio frequency to send text messages and notify people in cases of emergencies. An alarm will be activated in all houses within a 60 metres (200 ft) radius if the initial alarm is not disarmed within 30 seconds.[6][7]

The device detects fires by sensing for a rate of rise of temperature, rather than smoke, which would cause many false alarms. In the event of a fire, the detectors communicate to one another by means of radio frequency (RF) to create a community wide alert – the alert is transmitted to neighbouring detectors within a 60m radius of the fire, giving the community at large the necessary advanced warning to deal with the fire before it becomes unmanageable.

Lumkani is a tech company and social enterprise that delivers insurance services dedicated to customers who suffered loss of property or life following slum fired in South Africa and beyond. The company got its name from local Xhosa language, “lumkani” meaning “be careful”. Their main product is a small blue box fire alarm that responds to a rise in temperature rather than smoke with the aim of decreasing false alarms. Its associated network alerts houses within a 200 foot radius if the alarm is not shut off within 30 seconds. In 2014, the company reported having distributed 7000 of these devices across slums in South Africa, and 5000 in 2015 to its highest fire risk neighborhood in Cape Town.

The device is a heat detector and not an ill-suited smoke detector. In a fire situation, the device will ring alerting the family inside enabling them to be proactive before the fire becomes unmanageable. After 20 seconds the device transmits a signal to all devices in neighbouring homes up to 60 metres away creating a community-wide response to the fire

Lumkani is commercialising an early-warning system to reduce the damage and destruction caused by the spread of shack fires in urban informal settlements. Many cooking, lighting and heating methods used by people living in informal settlements produce smoke.