Firehouse, November 2003
Getting Thermal Imagers Through the Budget Process
By Jonathan Bastian

Introduction
As budget time approaches, a number of fire departments will request thermal imagers (TIs) for the second or third time. Many will struggle to convince the mayor, city manager or city council to fund the request. TIs are removed from the budget for three primary reasons. First, department leadership is not completely “sold” on the need for TIs; therefore, they become the “sacrificial lamb” of the budgeting process. Second, the council (for this article, “council” will refer generically to the budgetary authority of any fire department, such as city council, board of trustees, county board, etc.) does not understand what a TI is, or why it is needed. Third, because its members do not understand TIs, the council views thermal imagers as expensive toys with little real value. For fire department leaders to budget and win more TIs, they must take three critical steps: preach the tool, touch the heart, and open the purse.

Preaching the Tool
For most fire departments, budgeting is a difficult process of balancing priorities. Some departments operate on tax revenue, some on subscriptions, others on fundraising donations, and many on a combination of these. Regardless of the budgetary process, it is the fire department leadership that determines which priorities are funded and which are not. The budgetary process demands that certain funding requests are reduced or eliminated, and leadership will ensure that the highest priority items are not sacrificed. This balancing act is part of the duty, burden and privilege of being a fire department leader.

This begs the question: Why should leaders consider TIs to be critical, high-priority items? The short answer is, “for the firefighters.” It is a proven fact that TIs save firefighter lives and dramatically reduce the risk of injury on the job. One thermal imager manufacturer has documented a number of incidents in the past three years that illustrate thermal imaging helps keep firefighters safe. It documented more than 30 firefighters that would have died or been seriously injured if thermal imagers had not given them critical information. Statistically, if one allows for under-reporting of incidents and the presence of more than a half-dozen other manufacturers, then nationwide the number could exceed 200. Two hundred firefighters have been spared serious injury or death. Compare that number to the 100 or so firefighters lost every year (excluding 11 September 2001), and the impact is significant.

TIs have helped keep firefighters safe in several ways. The technology has aided firefighters in identifying compromised truss roofs and deciding to evacuate fire companies prior to roof collapse. Firefighters using TIs have discovered missing floor sections prior to entering a room or hallway. Rapid intervention teams equipped with TIs have found lost or injured firefighters in seconds, rather than minutes, leading them quickly to safety. In at least one incident, firefighters using a TI identified a rapidly dropping thermal layer near another company. Quickly interpreting this as an impending flashover, the company quickly evacuated just seconds before the room flashed over.


PHOTO
Volunteer firefighters in Busti, New York, responded to a fire at McCandles Well Drilling on Feb. 4, 2003, just minutes after putting their new TI into service. Firefighter Tim Young (left) and Firefighter Mark Korselman (right) first used the tool to direct their stream and to knock down the fire. After the fire was extinguished, they scanned the floor and saw a large hole in the center. Chief Mike Voty says that the thermal imager not only helped keep his firefighters safe on the job, but it also greatly limited the damage to the building.

TIs help in other tangible ways as well. They assist in fire attack, helping companies find the fire faster and apply water more accurately. This means there is less damage from fire and from the hose stream’s water. TIs make the overhaul process less demanding by helping to identify hotspots. Instead of pulling entire sections of ceiling or wall, firefighters can concentrate their efforts on the areas of greatest concern. Because firefighters are directing their energy to worrisome areas, they are wasting less energy and becoming less fatigued. More accurate identification of hotspots reduces the damage from overhaul and helps prevent rekindles.

PHOTO
This $1 million historic Galveston building was preserved in the summer of 2002 when firefighters identified a quickly moving fire on the third floor, using thermal imaging. The City of Galveston Fire Department received funding through a grant that focused on preserving and protecting historic Galveston property with thermal imagers.

Department leadership must understand, accept and then preach the value and need for TIs. If leadership believes TIs are critical tools required for the safety of firefighters (and civilians) and the preservation of property, they will be more successful in defending the expenditure. Until the leadership believes in the tool, the next two steps are immaterial.

Touching the Heart
Hundreds of fire departments have successfully raised money for TIs by appealing to the fundamental appeal of the technology: it saves civilian lives. It is difficult to convince people how “a simple camera” can save a life. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that most people do not see themselves as potential victims of fire. To be successful in touching the heart, departments must ensure that they accomplish three distinct objectives.

First, the department must show the public and the council what a structure fire is really like. Too many people think that the average structure fire is like the movie Backdraft: lots of fire, very little smoke. The leadership of the department must develop and embrace a program that demonstrates for the council (and, perhaps, the media) what firefighters really battle. Council members should be encouraged to navigate in blinding (non-toxic) smoke, through unfamiliar (yet safe) surroundings. They should try to find a simulated victim, perhaps even a child-sized one. This type of simulation vividly demonstrates the difficulty and complexity of firefighting.

Second, the council must understand how a TI changes the situation. Request that the council perform the same drill with a thermal imager (your local distributor should be able to assist if given proper advanced notice). The old saying is, “seeing is believing.” Let council members discover for themselves what a difference this tool can make. Emphasize to the council member that if there were a fire at his/her house, your firefighters would be much more successful finding his/her spouse and children if the fire companies were properly equipped with these TIs. To clarify the value, time the council members in each drill. Calculate the time they saved, and convert it into a percentage.


Third, demonstrate that this life-saving potential is not hypothetical; it is factual. At least one manufacturer has documented more than 20 civilian lives in the past three years that were saved because firefighters used TIs effectively. Some of the documented saves may even be relatively local. Leadership needs to prepare specific examples, taken from real stories, about how these cameras have dramatically impacted search efforts. Department leadership should communicate that several different studies have shown thermal imagers to reduce search times by up to 75%. Relate these facts back to the search times in your simulation with council members. Push this reality home with some basic math: brain death occurs about six minutes after breathing stops, and a TI can turn a ten-minute search and recovery into a three-minute search and rescue.

PHOTO
On April 15, 2003, firefighters with The Woodlands Fire Department, just north of Houston, Texas, rescued a dying man from a condominium fire, using a thermal imager to see through the smoke to find him. His breathing had nearly stopped by the time firefighters identified him lying unconscious on his kitchen floor. Today, he is perfectly healthy and back with his family because he was rescued in time – before the toxic smoke took his life. (In the photo, paramedics work to stabilize the victim following his late-night rescue.)

Opening the Purse
Once department leaders are committed, and they have appealed to the emotional aspect of TIs, the job is not done. As most fire officers can attest, emotional appeals for money rarely survive the budget process. To secure the funding, the department can make a business case for buying TIs. Several basic tools exist for determining if money invested by a corporation can be justified. One of these is the cost/benefit analysis (CBA), which compares the amount of money the organization wants to spend with the perceived benefits of the expenditure. To demonstrate that an expenditure is valuable and justifiable, department leadership should aim to convince the council that the perceived benefits of the expenditure outweigh the proposed cost.

There are three basic steps to performing the CBA: determine the total cost of the project; determine the total benefits (expressed in dollars) of the project; compare the cost to the benefits to determine the present value or payback time.

Below are scenarios constructed for three hypothetical fire departments, each one accompanied by a potential CBA. For simplicity, the CBAs below do not assume any interest rates; this makes the case easier to follow as well as easier to present to a council. With some diligent research, any fire department should be able to perform its own CBA.

Creative and resourceful departments may strive to include estimates on:
• reduced fire losses leading to reduced insurance rates;
• improved overhaul leading to less damaged structural material and less material in local landfills during the rebuilding phase;
• reduced firefighter injuries leading to lower workman’s compensation expenses;
• improved water use leading to lower water costs, less runoff and reduced environmental concerns;
• anything else with tangible value that is increased through TI usage.

Case 1
A career fire department with 220 members responds to 14,000 calls per year, running ten engines and three trucks. EMS runs comprise 75% of all calls, leaving 3,500 fire-related runs per year. Of the 3,500 fire runs, 40% are false alarms, leaving 1,400 fire emergencies. Over the past three years, records show:

• One firefighter was injured falling into an unseen opening, incurring $15,000 in medical and time-off expense. Three-year value: $15,000.

• One firefighter per year is injured by falling structural members at a fire, incurring $1,000 in medical and time-off expense. Three-year value: $3,000.

• An average of two structure fires result in rekindles every year, and the average rekindle causes an additional $1,000 in damage. Three year value: $2000 x 3, or $6,000.

• There are 300 structure fires in the average year, with average loss per fire of $5,000. Leadership conservatively estimates that proper use of TIs will reduce water and overhaul damage, decreasing the average loss by 10%. One-year value: 300 x $5,000 x 10%, or $150,000. Three year value: $450,000.

• An average of eight fire-related deaths per year. Incident analysis shows that an average of one life per year could be saved by more rapid discovery by fire companies.

Therefore, for three years, the total monetary benefit is the sum of all categories, or $474,000. In one year, the department could save the city and its citizens $158,000. If a TI costs $12,100, the department just saved enough money to buy TIs for every engine and truck company in the city. Of course, this dollar-analysis does not take into account the value of saving an extra life every year. How does one place a dollar value on that?

Case 2
A paid-on-call department responds to 2,400 runs per year, and 80% are EMS. This leaves 480 fire-related runs. Fifty percent of these are false alarms, leaving 240 fire emergencies. There were 75 working structure fires. The department has five engine companies, a truck company and a squad company. Each member is reimbursed $7 per hour, plus 30% for fringe benefits. Last year’s records show:

• The department averaged 18 members per working fire. The average time on-scene was three hours. Leadership estimates TIs will reduce average on-scene times by 50% by improving overhaul, search and fire attack. One year value: 18 x ($7 + 30%) x 50%= $81.90 per working fire, or $6,143 per year

• The average fire loss per working fire is $7,000. Through improved water usage and overhaul efficiency, the leadership estimates a 10% reduction in total fire losses. One-year value: 75 x $7,000 x 10%, or $52,500.

• The department had one rekindle last year and committed 12 members for one hour. An additional $1,500 in damage occurred. One-year value: 12 x ($7 + 30%)= $109.20 for manpower, plus $1,500 in damage, or $1,609.

The one-year total of savings to the community is $60,252, or $5,021 per month. Just a year-and-a-half of savings would place a $13,000 thermal imager on every front line fire company.

Case 3
A volunteer fire department has 35 members, serving a rural population of 7,000. The department operates two engines, two tankers, two grass rigs and an ambulance. The department receives 150 calls for service each year, 80% of which are EMS. Of the 30 fire-related runs, an average of three per year are working structure fires. The record review shows:

• The average loss per structure fire is $10,000. Department leadership estimates a 12% reduction in fire, water and overhaul damage. Annual savings: $10,000 x 12% x 3 fires, or $3,600.

• Local employers allow ten members to leave work for working fires, costing the member or his employer four hours of wages/productivity for each fire. Estimating an average wage of $15 per hour, and 30% for benefits, the aggregate cost to the local economy for each fire is: ($15 + 30%) x 10 members x 4 hours, or $780. Annual cost: $2,340.

• Once every three years, a grain bin fire is reported. Because the entire bin is traditionally drowned or emptied, an average of 10,000 bushels of grain is destroyed. Department leaders estimate that TIs would reduce the wasted grain by 50% by identifying content levels and hot spots. The average grain price is $1.50 per bushel. The three year savings are: 10,000 x 50% x $1.50, or $7,500. Annual savings are $2,500.

The potential annual savings to the local economy total $8,440. The three-year savings are $25,320, enough to justify a $12,600 TI for both engine companies.

Take any of these cases, and imagine presenting it to the city council. A solid, mathematical case for TIs will be hard to resist. The math itself demonstrates that TIs not only pay for themselves, but return money to the economy over their lifetimes. Assuming TI lifetimes of nine years for the career department, 12 years for the paid-on-call department, and 15 years for the volunteer department, the total dollars saved by the local economy (exclusive of interest or city expansion) respectively are $1,422,000; $705,708; and $126,600. What city manager would turn down a purchase that returns money to the economy throughout its lifetime, especially when this purchase may be directly responsible for saving a life?

Conclusion
The fire service faces a challenge: adopting a critical technological tool, convincing itself of the need, and convincing budgetary authorities to purchase it. Fire department leaders will determine how well the fire service takes on this challenge. To integrate TIs universally into the fire service, leaders must become champions for TIs. They must believe and demand that TIs are critical tools needed for the safety and welfare of the firefighters who serve and the public they serve together. Fire department leaders must then reach out for the hearts of decision makers, explaining the true job of firefighting and the true need for more TIs. Then, leaders must make the mathematical analysis that demonstrates the expenditure is justifiable based solely on economics.

The leader that successfully incorporates these three steps to acquire TIs for his/her department will be, indeed, a leader.