Peer Through Smoke
By Pete Skiba - Thursday, September 28, 2000
Nevada County Consolidated firefighters Spence Garrett (left) and Josh Sunde head into a smoke-filled room to test out an infrared camera that lets them sense victims in darkened rooms. (Photo by Eileen Joyce)
In a smoke-filled building, firefighters can't see two inches in front of their face masks, said Tim Fike, chief of the Nevada County Consolidated Fire Protection District. The only way to locate victims in burning buildings now is by groping through the smoke, he said.
Firefighters and fire victims will benefit from a fund-raising effort and purchase a heat-imaging camera that lets firefighters find victims through smoke and darkness, he said.
Because it is a high-tech camera and must be impervious to fire, the cost of the Forward Looking Infrared Camera is $18,000, Fike said.
Because it registers heat, the camera can almost be said to see through walls, Fike said.
A firefighter can look through the camera at a wall and see heat in the room behind it, he said.
During fires, a child usually hides under a bed; firefighters equipped with the camera can see through the smoke and spot them easily, Fike said.
The camera also allows its user to see where the center of the fire is in a closed house, Fike said, so firefighters waste no time hosing down the wrong area.
The infrared camera aids firefighter safety as well, Fike said. With the equipment, firefighters could see if the floor beneath them was safe or weakened by flames, he said. Firefighters with the camera could easily find their way out of burning homes, Fike said.
The use of the camera would not be limited to his district, Fike said. It could be used in conjunction with other fire departments as need dictates, he said.
"An engine would respond to the dispatch with the infrared system to help," Fike said. "All another fire company would have to do is ask for the dispatch."
In tests quoted in the February 1999 issue of Fire-Rescue magazine, more than 30 percent of the time firefighters could not find their way out of a demonstration burning house.
When the firefighters used the infrared camera, the success rates were 99 to 100 percent, the magazine stated.
To raise money for the equipment, the fire district auxiliary is sending letters to businesses, property owners and residents in the district. Fike would like to get two of the cameras.
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For more information on the fund-raising campaign for the infrared cameras, call 273-3158. Donations can be sent to the Nevada County Consolidated Fire Protection District administration office, 11992 Plaza Drive, Grass Valley, 95945.
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