RescueAir was founded by Anthony Turiello in 1993. It was born from the ashes of one of the most devastating high-rise fires in California history, the First Interstate Bank building fire. After studying the post-incident reports, Turiello identified the process of shuttling air bottles up and down the stairs during emergency operations as a major strain on manpower, a serious threat to the safety of the firefighters, and a major obstacle to efficiently fighting the fire. He realized there was a better way.