Five Washington State Fire Departments Undertake First-Time Study
Of Thermal Imaging Cameras in Emergency Response
October 9, 2000
With the help of a $230,000 grant from Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, five fire and rescue organizations in Washington have procured ten Bullard Thermal Imagers that will be used in a study of the impact of thermal imaging technology in emergency response work.
The first study of its kind in the US, this nine-month research project intends to clearly demonstrate how thermal imagers can be used to reduce exposure of emergency response personnel to hazards in job applications including emergency response, fire suppression, hazardous materials operations, aircraft hazard intervention, water/outdoor searches and confined space rescue operations.
Thermal imagers are currently being used primarily in structural fire applications. These sophisticated devices enable firefighters to see through smoke, helping them find unconscious victims in smoke-filled rooms, pinpoint the sources of fires in areas such as buildings and aircraft, detect structural dangers before they cause injuries and deaths. Departments involved in the study speculate that new advantages will be found for the technology in other hazardous, hostile, and unfamiliar environments in which they work.
Rescue organizations involved include Vashon Island Fire and Rescue, Port of Seattle Fire Department, City of Renton Fire Department, Northshore Fire Department and Sunnyside Fire Department. These partnership representatives will work with the 10 new thermal imagers during the next nine months to study the impact of thermal imaging on the targeted applications, evaluating the technology’s effectiveness by comparison to current manual standard practices.
Vashon Island Fire and Rescue Chief Randy Coggan, who serves as Grant Program Manager for the thermal imaging study, explained the importance of this research. “By providing proof of the effectiveness and wide range of practical applications in which the technology can be used, we hope to help fire rescue organizations throughout Washington to more clearly demonstrate the importance of purchasing thermal imagers for their communities.
“We anticipate that within the next year, we’ll discover the broad capabilities of this technology, thus proving to communities that they can save money and lives by equipping their departments with thermal imaging technology. We will demonstrate this through decreased injury to personnel and minimized loss for victims, homeowners, businesses and insurers.” Coggan said. “While we also want to be able to perform rapid and effective rescue of civilians as well as public safety personnel in unstable, hazardous or unfamiliar environments, the primary goal of this program remains the reduction of exposures to our personnel thereby lessening time-loss injuries or even worse, firefighter fatality.”
Representatives from all participating agencies attended a study kickoff reception on September 21, at Vashon Island Fire & Rescue Training and Safety Center. Participants immediately began the study afterwards, providing written feedback to Hebert Research, an organization that will collect, process and report data on research results.
Bullard is a privately held manufacturer of personal protective equipment, based in Cynthiana, Ky. Product lines include thermal imaging devices, SCBAs, hard hats, firefighter and rescue helmets, police helmets, supplied air respirators and air quality equipment. For more information, contact Bullard Inside Sales at 1-800-827-0423 or visit Bullard’s web site at www.bullard.com.