The air balloons will be able to ascend a 100-story building in 15 to 30 seconds and descend that same building in 2 minutes. If we freewheel the winches so that they payout at a very high rate, the balloon can climb at speeds up to 4,000 feet per minute. That's more than two times the speed of a helicopter. In times of trauma, speed is absolutely essential. You can't leave people up there. The air balloons has other advantages over a helicopter.

A helicopter whips up smoke and ash, and there's always the danger that its blades may hit the sides of a building if it flies in close. The balloon, however, won't generate wind and simply will move up and down the face of a building like an outside elevator.

Because a helicopter cannot fly close to the sides of a building, it must always make its approach to the roof. But trapped people often must travel through dangerous areas to reach the roof, and roofs many times are cluttered with equipment and materials that make helicopter landings treacherous.

Also, big cities must have more than one helicopter to reach different quadrants of the municipality. And helicopter costs are steep. The average price tag can range from $ 1 million to $ 2.5 million.

After the rescue balloon prototype is built at The Balloon Works, which employs 45 people full time, Conn will seek more money from venture capital firms to build more balloons.

"We came up with mind-boggling figures," Conn said. "Even some very small cities have a large number of buildings fire departments consider to be unprotected because the ladders won't reach them. We're looking at municipalities of 50,000 and up.

"From an engineering standpoint, we know it will work," Conn said. "We're firmly committed. It's one of those projects that needs to be done." "Conn's got some impressive credentials," O'Ferrell said. "He's probably the best in the world at what he does. He's got a real solid game plan and has done a good job researching and assessing the problems he has to overcome.

"I feel it is a viable idea and feel very confident of it. I'm proud that it's happening here in Statesville and am excited about a solution superior to anything we have now," he said.