Thermal Imaging Cameras, or TICs, can be lifesavers for fire crews. Not only can they help firefighters find their way through smoky dark buildings, TICs can also help them pinpoint the seat of the fire so they can swiftly and efficiently douse the flames. And, because TICs can visualize heat, they’re a vital tool for search and rescue, hazmat operations, and more.
Unfortunately, few firefighters can actually get their hands on a TIC during a fire. For years, this technology was too expensive for fire departments to afford more than a few at a time. Many departments continue to use out-of-date technology simply because of the expense.
Now fire departments have the opportunity to not only outfit more firefighters with cameras, but to also expand their view of the fire. That’s because FLIR Systems has developed a lineup of TICs that’s more affordable, higher tech, and provides a new perspective on the fire scene. This lineup includes an inexpensive hand-held TIC, more options for advanced hand-held TICs, fixed cameras that attach to trucks and aerial platforms, and a drone-mounted camera kit. This expanded lineup of TICs can give incident commanders a more comprehensive view of the scene — from inside, outside, and above the fire.
A Focus on Firefighter Safety
Visibility is a key concern for firefighters, especially considering the sheer volume of plastics found in homes these days. These petroleum-based products burn very hot and generate enormous quantities of thick, black smoke. In those conditions, it’s vital that firefighters have the tools they need to work safely, says Green Bay Metro’s Captain of Fire and EMS Training, Joseph Thomson.
“Every fire I can remember going to nowadays is just black, dark, ugly smoke,” says Thomson. Thomson recalls one fire in March 2016 that started in a basement and quickly filled a two-story apartment building with smoke. “There were two firefighters inside who were within four feet of each other with their flashlights on — and they couldn’t see each other. They had no idea,” he says. It took another firefighter, armed with a TIC, to direct them to safety.
Jason Messerschmidt, a volunteer firefighter and Sales Manager at FLIR, agrees that visibility should be addressed. He hopes fire companies will begin tackling the problem the same way they addressed other safety hazards.
“Everybody gets issued an air pack, because you need to be able to breathe in the building. Everybody gets issued a radio, because you need to communicate with the people in the building and outside the building in case something happens.” Messerschmidt explains. But, he says, “right now, as a fire service, we don’t give everybody the ability to see in the dark.”
Seeing from All Angles
A safe and efficient fire attack is about more than seeing in the dark. Being able to view the scene from multiple angles can help the incident commander direct resources more effectively.
“The more information you can have especially for the incident commander the better off you are,” says Thomson. If he can get regular visual updates from inside, outside, and above the fire, Thomson explains, the incident commander can make better decisions about how to proceed.
“If they can see, let’s say, a picture from a drone so they can see the whole scene, and then a room-by-room updates from the crew…I mean that can only make things that much better,” Thomson adds. “You can see just how much a scene is getting better, like if we’re making progress or if it’s getting worse and we need to think about getting our crews out.”
New Lineup, New Technology
FLIR’s expanded product line is aimed at covering those bases, through lower cost cameras, improved technology, greater variety, and multiple viewpoints. Each model is tailored to solve a different problem.
For example, the FLIR K2 was developed to be affordable enough to put in the hands of every firefighter entering a building. At the same time, this camera has the same high quality and rugged durability as its higher-end models. The K2’s resolution is good enough for the user to immediately identify hot spots, navigate through the smoke, and find victims quickly. The K2 can also measure temperature from a distance, allowing firefighters to monitor the changing heat of a structure to determine if it is cooling down quickly enough.
More advanced cameras, such as the K33 or the K55, can provide greater resolution and more details from the scene. These models offer Flexible Scene Enhancement, or FSX® — a real-time image enhancement that creates an ultra-sharp image with clear structural details and edges to help keep firefighters oriented to the scene. Whether it’s in the hands of a lieutenant on the hose or a rescue crew in a building, an FSX-enabled TICs will provide the clearest picture of the scene. “You can see a building so plainly, from the construction materials to the pictures on the walls — it’s amazing. It’s almost like turning a light switch on,” says Thomson.
Fixed-mount cameras may do the most to improve firefighting efficiency. Whether they’re mounted on top of a truck or attached to a ladder bucket, these cameras provide an additional angle on the fire scene. For example, a FLIR KF6 attached to an aerial apparatus can see through smoke billowing from a roof and show firefighters exactly where to direct the water spray. This is especially important in rural areas, where water may be a low-resource item.
“With a thermal imaging camera, firefighters can be very pinpointed in where that water’s going,” explains Messerschmidt. “Right now they don’t have that ability, so they’re wasting a lot of water.”
Finally, FLIR’s Aerial First Responder Kits allow crews to fly a thermal imager in a drone over large commercial fires, hazardous material spills, brush fires, and more. A drone could allow a fire company to assess a dangerous area before entering, or search for hot spots after a brush fire. Both Messerschmidt and Thomson say drones could be crucial to quickly resolving search and rescue calls. Rather than waiting hours for a search helicopter, a rescue crew with a drone could begin looking almost immediately.
Thomson says firefighters in Green Bay already use thermal imagers when searching for hikers lost in thick grasses along the bay, but they’re at a disadvantage. “The problem we have with the phragmites grass is it’s so thick you have to be fairly close to catch the body heat of somebody. Whereas if you’re over the top of them with a drone, you could find them much more easily,” he explains.
Getting the Right Approach
About the only disadvantage to having more thermal cameras at hand, says Thomson, is the tendency to focus on them too much. This can slow down search times and keep firefighters inside a building longer. “When we go from doing a search of a first floor in 90 seconds to, now, six minutes it’s because we just tunnel vision in on the camera. But that’s more of a training issue than it is a thermal imaging issue,” he explains. Thomson says he’s working with crews to balance their approach to TICs, for the most effective camera use.
With the right approach, this expanded lineup of thermal tools will allow firefighters to get in and out of buildings much faster. When fire companies have multiple people relaying interpretations of what they see, from different types of cameras at different angles, it can help them keep better account of the scene and the people working it. It all boils down to having more eyes on the fire.
As Messerschmidt summed it up, “The more eyes that I can put on the fire the better off I am.”
