business

It's like an industrial Swiss Army Knife for natural disasters, towering at more than 8 feet tall.

Chanhassen entrepreneur Deborah Yungner has come up with a machine that can purify water; provide electricity, air, and satellite communications; and can inflate a tent to house at least 20 people.

Yungner's company, Emergency Response Backup Utility System, or ERBUS, is marketing the system for government aid during major disasters such as the Haitian earthquake. Already three local governments in New York and Texas have purchased ERBUS models. The models start at $125,000, and production will begin in July, Yungner said.

"It's reflective of the need to sustain life," Yungner said. "It's a God idea."

ERBUS, which will soon be based in Eagan, will have four different models. The business uses backup utilities created by other manufacturers and installs them on one unit. For example, the company's 11,000-pound Sentry5000 model has a diesel-powered electric generator that can bring electricity to a small city block and a purification system that can make at least 3,600 gallons of salt water a day drinkable, among other features. The machine can be flown in by plane or helicopter or attached to a truck.

But is it too risky to put the full range of emergency backup equipment on one system? People involved in the emergency preparedness industry say it will come down to how well the equipment performs in the field.

"The nice thing is it makes it compact and easy to use," said Bernie Vrona, an instructor in the fire protection program at Hennepin Technical College and a Golden Valley firefighter. On the other hand, Vrona said, "If one breaks down, what does that do to everything else?"

ERBUS officials said the machine's parts operate independently from one another. If one part of the machine breaks down, there are systems in place to provide backup, the company said. For example, if the diesel-powered electric generator fails, there is battery backup.

ERBUS describes itself as using "humanitarian technology, helping save lives so none perish." Yungner said the idea was sparked by an early 1990s business and humanitarian mission trip to Panama, where she saw people living in makeshift grass mud huts as the growing population spread into the jungle. The residents were using the same water source to cook, clean and go to the bathroom.

Yungner, then a business development director for a tech company, thought about the possibility of a portable machine that could encompass all the necessary equipment for communities to survive.

The only problem was, the technology didn't exist. It was as if her idea was too far out in the future, like something out of "The Jetsons," Yungner said.

"For me, I was already there," Yungner said. "Most of the world really wasn't. The technology was ahead of its time."

But the idea came back after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Two years later Yungner filed for a provisional patent, and in 2005 the first prototype was made. ERBUS has been self-funded through Yungner's personal savings, family and friends, raising more than $1.5 million altogether, Yungner said. The company currently has three full-time employees.

The first customer to purchase the machine was the town of Islip on Long Island in 2008, for preparation against hurricanes and to provide support against blackouts. Richard Gimbl, the town's director of emergency management, said Islip spent more than $100,000 on the Sentry5000 model, although the town has not had to operate it yet.

"I can move it where I need it," Gimbl said. "That's fantastic to have everything in one unit."

Currently, most city governments designate facilities to become emergency shelters and bring supplies to those areas when disaster strikes, said Dave Klocek, fire protection and emergency management program coordinator at Hennepin Technical College. ERBUS' machine would allow officials to bring the power and resources to any site from one unit, he added. Hennepin Technical College employees have offered advisory services to ERBUS, although Vrona was not one of those employees.

ERBUS said it will continue to market itself to governments, humanitarian aid organizations and citizen groups and said there are federal grants available that will help offset the cost of the product. The company will add three new models to its production list this summer: a lighter and smaller version similar to the Sentry5000, a model focused on water purification and a mobile truck.

The production, engineering and design of the ERBUS machines will occur in Minnesota, Florida and Indiana, with the product built to order, Yungner said.

"It's a survival solution," she said, "with the technology for survival."

Wendy Lee • 612-673-1712