Firehouse November 2004

Firehouse Magazine, November 2004
Non-Traditional Uses
By Jonathan Bastian

Thermal imagers are excellent tools for firefighting. Since they enable firefighters to see through smoke, TIs have become required tools on a number of fire companies. Aggressive companies use TIs in every phase of a fire, from size up to overhaul. But for most fire companies, the majority of responses are to non-fire incidents. So how do firefighters stay skilled with their TIs?

Simple: use the TI on non-fire incidents as well. This month’s article concentrates on creative uses for TIs, with the goal of getting you to think “outside the box” about TI usage.

Essentials

All members must start with an understanding of basic TI operations. A thermal imager sees infrared radiation, which is the energy that humans perceive as heat. The TI takes the varying heat levels of all the objects in a scene and creates a black and white picture for the user to interpret (a few TIs may add colorization, but they all can create black and white images). The keys to image interpretation are:

Remember that the temperatures indicated by the shades of gray are relative. “White hot” in an office environment may be a different temperature than “white hot” in a room and contents fire.
Thermal imagers do not “see through” most objects. In general, they see surfaces. TIs are not like x-rays; they do not see through solid objects.
TIs do not require light to function; they only require temperature differences to create an image. The larger the temperature differences are, the clearer the picture will be.
Dense fog, heavy precipitation or condensation on the TI lens may all negatively affect the performance of a TI.

Practice Makes Perfect

This month, the Practice section is dedicated to what other fire departments and emergency agencies have done that demonstrates the flexibility of the TI as a tool.

A police department in Louisiana used the fire department’s TI at night to find a suspect hiding in a small river. When the suspect came up for air, the TI detected his head above water. Officers surrounded the area and arrested him.
A fire department in Ohio used its TI to find a mentally impaired patient who walked away from his care facility at night. The patient was not appropriately dressed for the cold, rainy weather, and he could have died from exposure if he was not found quickly.
A law enforcement agency in California used a thermal imager to track chemicals being dumped into a harbor from a houseboat containing a methamphetamine laboratory. The trail of chemicals identified exactly which boat was hiding the meth lab.
A Kentucky fire department used its TI to identify residual heat in the passenger seat of a pick-up truck involved in a single-vehicle accident. This led the FD to search for, and find, a dazed passenger who had wandered from the accident and fallen into a ravine.
An Indiana fire department used its thermal imager to find fingers amputated by a lawn mower. The ambulance transported the patient immediately; the engine company searched just minutes and recovered all three fingers with the aid of the TI.
An Illinois fire department engaged in overhaul used a TI to identify that manufacturing equipment and steam lines were still active, despite assurances from the facility maintenance staff that they were not. By identifying active equipment, the firefighters avoided working in the area and exposing themselves to potential risks until a senior safety manager finally performed a formal “lock-out/tag-out” of the equipment.

Table Talk

Over coffee and bagels, have a brainstorming session on how a TI could have helped at difficult incidents. Ask each member to think back to an incident that was difficult or time consuming, then give a description of how a thermal imager could have helped shorten the time on scene or make the incident response more successful. For example, if you responded to a finger amputation at a manufacturing facility, how might the TI have assisted?

Photo 1 shows metal shavings around a lathe. Imagine you are the first responding company. The shavings pose a risk to the firefighter who has to search in the metal for the missing fingers. Photo 2, though, shows what a TI might show at the incident (this incident is simulated for the image). The two white spots indicate the locations of the amputated “fingers.”

Photo 1 shows what a firefighter might see at a report of fingers amputated by machinery.

Photo 2 shows how a thermal imager would display the “missing fingers.”

Final Report

While firefighters often think of a TI as a “firefighting tool,” it clearly has potential applications at a number of emergency incidents. Any time your eyes are not giving you all of the information you want, or giving the information as rapidly as needed, the TI may assist to make your efforts more successful and less time consuming. The only way to experience these successes is to practice frequently with the TI and to try using it at almost every incident. It may not always help, but if it does, you will be glad you tried.

For additional success stories outside of fire environments, visit the Technology section of Firehouse.com for a more in-depth review of several non-traditional uses for thermal imagers.

For Firehouse.com

November’s Firehouse thermal imager training article discussed the non-traditional uses of thermal imagers. The objective of the article was to foster creative thinking in the firehouse about how and where a thermal imager can be used to improve the effectiveness of a non-fire response.

For most fire companies, the majority of responses are to non-fire incidents. Therefore, to maintain solid image interpretation skills, firefighters must find additional opportunities to use thermal imagers. Non-fire incidents are an excellent source of experience. Because non-fire incidents are much more frequent, using a TI during these incidents keeps skill levels high. Additionally, the TI can also make certain incident responses shorter and more successful.

The Firehouse article identifies several success stories from around the USA, and none of them are related to actual structure fires. One of them involved identifying residual heat in a car seat to find a missing patient. While “hot seat” checks can be helpful at motor vehicle accidents, keep in mind that they are not foolproof. The residual heat from a vehicle’s passenger will be visible to a TI for varying amounts of time. The length of time during which a person was in the seat will affect how much heat he leaves behind. For example, if the person was picked up just before the accident, then he may not have left residual heat. Or, if the person was just dropped off at home, then he will have left a heat signature even though he was not in the vehicle at the time of the accident. Keep in mind that the type of clothing a person wears will also impact heat transfer. During winter, the transfer of body heat to the seat can take more time than in the spring, when people wear thinner clothing. Time elapse between the accident and your arrival also influences how much residual heat is available for your TI to detect. While every situation is different, you can generally expect residual heat signatures to fade in less than 20 minutes.

We will go further into some additional non-fire uses. The first is from Mississippi. As a tornado raced through a small town, a family of four was sleeping in their home, unaware they were in the direct path of the tornado. The tornado decimated the home, injuring several members. One child, however, was missing. After the tornado passed, the family began a frantic search for the child. Several firefighters arrived in personal vehicles to assist, joining the family in its search with flashlights. The devastation to the home was absolute. Searchers made several unsuccessful passes through the debris field; hope of finding the child began to fade.

Later, ten more firefighters arrived on fire apparatus with the department’s two TIs. Realizing that their eyesight was not providing enough information, they scanned the debris field with the a TI. The chief noticed a section of wall that was warmer than the rest of the debris. This heat anomaly, a heat source that is out of place, attracted his attention. The missing, critically injured child was found unconscious under the wall; his body pressed against the sheeting generated enough heat to be detected with the TI. Firefighters on the scene estimate that the TI saved hours of searching for the child, time that probably saved his life.

The second non-traditional use is theoretical; I have not received an actual report, but such an application is practical and feasible. During a confined space rescue, a thermal imager could help significantly with rescuer safety. For example, during a rescue in a machinery space, rescuers could examine the machinery with the TI. Active machinery will generate more heat than inactive machinery. Rescuers can verify that machinery is shut down and cooling off prior to committing themselves. They can also get a full image of the confined space and any potential entrapment hazards. Flashlights may not illuminate the entire space, or shadows may hide significant features. Sharp corners, cables, wires and the like may all appear on the TI, even if they are not visible with flashlights to the human eye. In short, the TI may give the confined space team a more complete picture of the space prior to entry. Better information leads to better planning; better planning promotes firefighter safety.