How The Fire Service Thermal Imaging Camera Has Advanced

As TIC engineering becomes more advanced and more affordable, it's time to consider equipping every member of your coiffure

By Robert Avsec for FireRescueOne BrandFocus

Information technology's difficult, if not incommunicable, for today's generation of firefighters to imagine what it was similar to fight structure fires before SCBA use became commonplace. And notwithstanding nosotros're only talking 98 years since the first commercial SCBA appeared in fire stations in 1920. (Though it wouldn't be until the late 1970s before SCBA use began to gain widespread credence in the fire service in the U.South.).

Like SCBA, the introduction of thermal imaging cameras (TICs) has been hindered past the high cost of TICs, as well as a fire service culture that's not only slow to adopt new technologies but creates barriers to adoption. Remember when veteran firefighters scoffed at the employ of ear flaps on helmets and protective Nomex hoods? Those older firefighters would tell yous that flaps and hoods wouldn't allow y'all feel the heat, so you wouldn't know when to get out.

A thermal imaging camera should exist as essential as SCBA

Toll is a common barrier to adoption of new tools and technologies. Merely TIC manufacturers have reduced the size and weight of TICs and added additional features (e.g., recording capabilities), while drastically reducing the price per unit. With a model now on the market for under $one,500, a TIC for every riding position on a piece of fire apparatus is fast becoming a existent possibility for many burn down departments.

Of grade, the fire service traditionalists have already begun to assail such a notion. Heard whatsoever of these comments lately?

• "Firefighters will get also dependent on the TIC. What happens when it fails? And then, where are yous?"
• "Firefighters will exist likewise focused on the TIC and not pay attending to what's going on in the room that'due south on fire. Merely look at them and their phones!"
• "TICS don't put out fires!"

Short sounds like some of these "oldies" from our firefighting past:

• "Radios don't put out fires!"
• "If you go in at that place and put the fire out, you lot don't have to worry about breathing smoke!"
• "You gonna waste product fourth dimension putting on that air pack or you gonna take hold of a hose and do something'?"

And then there's the camp the grudgingly take TICS only only 1 for the officeholder on the truck. Actually? Makes about equally much sense is only one set of SCBA per truck, no? Or only one PASS device per crew.

Your SCBA is your life support equipment when you enter an IDLH (Immediately Dangerous to Life and Wellness) atmosphere, right? Well information technology's time we also consider thermal imaging cameras as life support equipment for firefighters. This equipment enables the firefighter to "run into" the fire and keep tabs on the enemy until it is vanquished (extinguished). After all, the best tool for reducing fire-eater deaths and injuries while combatting interior construction fires is the one that keeps them from getting into a jam in the kickoff place.

A TIC for every firefighter

Firefighter Life Safety Initiative No. 8 (ane of the 16 Life Condom Initiatives from Everyonegoeshome.com) states: Utilize bachelor technology wherever it can produce higher levels of wellness and safety.

Since 1978, FLIR has been on the forefront in the development of loftier-performance, low-toll infrared (thermal) imaging systems for the detection of the infrared energy (heat) that is emitted by people, objects and materials. Past the late 1990s, FLIR was introducing its starting time TIC for fire service duty, enabling firefighters to "see" in total darkness and through the smoke of structural firefighting.

FLIR has embraced Firefighter Life Safety Initiative No. 8 and is on a mission to brand a high-quality TIC a part of every structural firefighter's protective ensemble, aka, turnout gear. The introduction of the FLIR K2 makes that possible by providing capability, ruggedness and reliability at an affordable price.

The FLIR K2 weighs just ane.54 pounds and is designed to meet the demands of structural firefighting, with features including:

• Single-button controls that tin can be used with heavy structural firefighting gloves.
• Multi-Spectral Dynamic Imaging (MSX), a proprietary FLIR technology that enhances the clarity of thermal images by calculation in visual details in real time.
• Durability (tin can withstand a 2-meter driblet onto concrete).
• Ingress Penetration rating of IP67 (functional after submersion in water for 30 minutes).
• Fully operational up to 500°F for upward to 3 minutes.

More than affordable than you recall, especially compared to the potential cost of an injury or LODD, the FLIR K2 shows its worth as part of whatsoever department's fire fighter life support equipment.

The burn service has a duty to look towards the hereafter and embrace the changes in technology, especially equally the technology becomes more affordable and better designed for use. These advancements will not only assistance to better orient oneself in a building or find the seat of a fire, but will give each fellow member of the crew another vital piece of equipment designed to make certain they go dwelling house rubber at the end of the call. We no longer rely on one SCBA for a crew, and so we should consider not relying on only one TIC, either.

About the author

Battalion Chief Robert Avsec (ret.) served with the Chesterfield (Virginia) Fire & European monetary system Department for 26 years. He was an instructor for burn, Ems and hazardous materials courses at the local, state and federal levels, which included more than 10 years with the National Fire University. Chief Avsec earned his bachelor'south degree from the University of Cincinnati and his master'south degree in executive fire service leadership from Grand Canyon Academy. He is a 2001 graduate of the National Burn University's EFO Program. Across his writing for FireRescue1.com and FireChief.com, Avsec authors the blog Talking "Store" 4 Fire & EMS. Connect with Avsec on LinkedIn or via email.

Source: https://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/thermal-imaging/articles/why-every-firefighter-needs-a-thermal-imaging-camera-T9ZeKTQSLgFtVtN7/

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