Firehouse July 2005

Firehouse Magazine, July 2005
Fire Attack and the Thermal Imager
By Jonathan Bastian

Fire suppression: it’s the job most commonly associated with a firefighter. When lives and property are at risk, firefighters extinguish the fire to bring control and safety back to a situation. This month’s training article examines how firefighters can use their thermal imagers to perform this essential task more quickly, more efficiently and more safely.

Essentials

This series of articles has repeatedly emphasized the importance of using thermal imagers as frequently as possible. Not only does frequent use enable firefighters to become more comfortable with interpreting images, but it also makes their operations safer and more effective. During fire attack, a TI can show thermal layers, a safe path for advancement, alternative exits and the location of the heaviest fire. In short, a TI can lead firefighters to their goal faster and safer.

When using a TI in support of fire suppression, consider the following:

A TI can assist in fire attack only if it is on scene when the first line is stretched. If your thermal imager is arriving on the third or fourth fire company, it cannot help in fire attack. Deploy your TIs so that they arrive as early as possible.
For most departments, the first-in engine has more tasks than manpower. Develop a system for carrying the TI that is compatible with your staffing. Assign the TI to a specific person (or seat) so that it comes off the engine immediately. Use a truck-mount system in the cab to ensure the TI does not get left in a compartment when the crew is stretching its line.
Know how to recognize thermal layers and thermal columns on your TIs. “Seeing” the thermal layer can help firefighters predict pre-flashover conditions. Following the “flow” of a thermal column back to its origin can lead firefighters directly to the source of the fire. Thermal images and thermal imaging videos help firefighters recognize these key features, especially if frequent live-fire training is not available.
Firefighters cannot rely on the TI as their only means of orientation. Use your TI as a tool to enhance your normal procedures, not replace them.

Practice Makes Perfect

One of the biggest challenges in using the TI for fire attack is coordinating TI usage with hoseline advancement. Short company drills can help perfect operations as well as build comfort with TI deployment. After parking the apparatus outside the firehouse, the company can practice stretching dry attack lines into the apparatus bay. Firefighters can be assigned to specific seats to ensure that each firefighter gets practice leading out the attack line, or backing up the line while carrying the TI. Have the hose team practice advancing the line and simulating area scans with the TI.

Remember, as the team advances, the person using the TI cannot stare at the TI display the whole time. He will use the TI to orient himself and the team, then sling (or otherwise secure) the TI while he helps advance the line. For three and four-man companies, his assistance on the line is especially important. Be sure the TI user shares his observations orally with the rest of the company; there is a natural human instinct to assume that others see what you see. The TI user needs to describe the scene to the rest of the company.

Table Talk

After practicing hoseline advancement with the TI, discuss some of the unique fire risks in your response areas and how they might affect your hose advancement. Are there structures that might require you to bring additional tools along, such as bolt cutters? Do you have to reassign tools to ensure that the special tools, as well as the TI, make it into the structure? Can the TI person carry the extra tools as well, and still advance the line? How are the extra tools carried to ensure that the TI is easily accessible?

Some of these issues should be addressed in the standard operating guideline for the TI, but SOGs cannot cover every contingency. Plan for the special hazards and challenges of your response area.

Final Report

Your TI can be a vital tool for extinguishing any fire, not just those that are hidden or difficult to locate. Proper use and image interpretation can help firefighters advance more quickly and more safely into the structure, as well as find and extinguish the fire more efficiently. Advancing a hoseline requires teamwork, and if a team member is uncomfortable carrying the TI, he may not function effectively. Ensure that all members are comfortable carrying and using the TI as part of their assignments, and that they can do so while still helping the nozzleman advance into the structure.

For further information on using a TI during fire attack, visit the Technology section of Firehouse.com.

Photo 1 During fire attack, a thermal imager can show superheated gases and the thermal layers. While the yellow colorization helps accent the highest heat, note that the thermal layer is much lower, as represented by the light gray line that reaches nearly to the bottom of the image.

Photo 2 Despite heavy smoke to the floor, the TI quickly identifies which apartment door is concealing the fire. This guides the hose team more rapidly to the seat of the fire.

Photo 3 As a company progresses down a smokey hallway, the thermal imager identifies that fire has broken through a hallway door. This shows that the truck company operating in front of the engine risks being cut off, while identifying the apartment of origin to the hose team.

For Firehouse.com

In the July issue of Firehouse, the thermal imaging training article discussed fire attack with a thermal imager. Successful use of the TI in fire attack requires fire departments to plan TI deployment both strategically and tactically.

The strategic issue is one that I have addressed in several other articles. It is challenging in most communities to determine the best deployment arrangement, especially when TIs are a very limited resource. Few fire departments have a TI on every fire company. Some departments have one in each firehouse, but most departments face a balancing act: they can place the TIs on a few engines, but not provide TI-coverage for the whole municipality, or they can place the TIs on trucks or squads, but not have TIs at the scene early in the incident.

This key strategic decision of TI placement needs the focused attention of senior staff. There are as many deployment options as there are fire departments; no one solution will work for everyone. Below are examples on “common” deployments, vs. “aggressive” deployments. All of these examples are hypothetical, but they may help you re-examine how you assign your TIs strategically.

A career FD fielding 11 engines, 3 trucks and 2 battalions equipped with 3 TIs. Common: 1 on each truck. Aggressive: 1 on each of the 3 busiest engines, determined by fire calls (not EMS or alarms).
A career FD fielding 20 engines, 8 trucks and 6 battalions equipped with 6 TIs. Common: 1 on each battalion chief. Aggressive: 3 with 3 busy, but strategically located, engines and 3 with 3 busy, but strategically located, trucks, giving “6-pointed star” coverage in the city.
A volunteer FD fielding 4 engines, 1 truck and 1 squad equipped with 2 TIs. Common: 1 each on the truck and squad. Aggressive: 1 each on the 2 busiest engines.

If you are “common,” it is not necessarily “bad” or “wrong.” You are encouraged, though, to review your specific deployment plan and ensure that strategically you are ensuring the most use possible for your TI.

Tactically, there are few options when choosing which member of the hose team carries the TI. In general, it is preferable for any member except the nozzle man to carry the TI. Whether it is a heel man or the company officer who uses the TI, it is better for a back-up person to be responsible for the tool. This should require little explanation: the nozzle man has enough to do without juggling an additional tool. Having the nozzle man carry the TI may work, but experience has shown that this responsibility usually over-burdens the person leading the hoseline into the structure.

Additional information is available on using TIs in fire attack, as well as in other aspects of the fire service, in a new book, Thermal Imaging for the Fire Service. Published by the Fire Department Training Network in its FireNotes series, this book is a compilation of much of the information shared in this article series and other TI articles by this author. It is intended as a one-stop resource about thermal imaging, specifically written for firefighters. You can order it directly from FDTN at www.fdtraining.com.