A Dartmouth startup has accelerated the launch of its mobile app because its founders believe the product could help distressed families rebuild their lives in fire-ravaged Fort McMurray.

Curbza has developed an app for Apple and Android devices that can help people inventory their personal possessions and quickly sell or donate things they don’t want.

It can also build a virtual warehouse, so agencies can compile a list of bulky donated items like furniture without having to assemble them under a single roof.

The founders are hoping the app can help Canadians provide household items for residents of Fort McMurray who were forced to leave the city because of forest fires and are now preparing to return.

“Our hearts go out to the people in Alberta who have lost their homes and belongings,” Curbza CEO Scott Theriault said in a statement. “We feel it’s our duty to push this free technology out today in order to help our brothers and sisters out west.”

Using Curbza, the user can photograph and inventory all the family’s household items.

If there is something they don’t want, they can click a button and sell it or give it away.

The product lets people create their own marketplace and build their own networks.

The founders — who include marketing director Samantha Bambrick and vice-president brand and user experience Andrija Brajkovic — now want to get the app out to enough Canadians to establish a network and help people donate goods to Fort McMurray families.

“Our intention is for anyone with a mobile device to be able to list the things they want to give away,” said Theriault.

He added the product lets the user organize these items electronically so “people who want to help have a way to do so without creating unnecessary burdens in the process.”

The multichannel marketing company SimplyCast has incubated Curbza and has given it a SimplyCast 360 automated marketing tool to help build the networks. SimplyCast CEO Saeed El-Darahali is the chair of the Curbza board.

Curbza has quietly beta-tested the product with about 30 people. It was preparing to do a full launch in a few months but accelerated the launch to help the Fort McMurray residents.

The app is free, and Theriault said there will be premium features that people will pay for. Though he declined to provide details on how Curbza will make money, he did say the product’s inventory feature offers users functionality that can’t be found on eBay or Kijiji.

For example, homeowners could use Curbza to file an inventory of their possessions with insurers so there’s a record of what they own if they ever have to make a claim.

It could be similarly used in estate planning to record someone’s physical possessions. And it could inventory the household goods of military personnel, who often have to get rid of possessions if they are transferring overseas.

Curbza has raised some capital from family and friends, and will consider raising more once the product is in the market. SimplyCast is not an investor.

For now, the focus is on developing the “Help-Fort McMurray” network, through which users can list free items to donate.