Seeing the invisible is now a lot easier for Texas-side firefighters, thanks to a recent equipment donation.
Texarkana, Texas, Fire Department recently bought 11 thermal imaging cameras with grant funding from the ArkLaTex 100 Club. The cameras display varying temperatures as different colors, allowing firefighters to see heat sources in situations where they otherwise would be hidden from view.
Thermal imaging cameras can show hot spots inside walls and fire victims in dark or smoke-filled rooms, for example.
TTFD was already using thermal imaging cameras, but the new models are integrated with firefighters' personal gear and therefore always at hand, Assistant Chief Chris Black said.
"You have to get those (older-model cameras) off the truck, out of the onboard charger and carry them in with you. These that we have now are actually integrated into our air packs that we wear into fires, so they're attached all the time.
"A lot of times you get in a house and don't realize you need one, so you have to send somebody out to get it. We've lost time if we have to do that. It just makes it extremely handy for us," Black said.
The department plans to always have two of the new cameras in service per truck crew.
TTFD requested the grant to take advantage of the cameras being on sale. Normally $1,795 each, they cost only $795 apiece, Black said. The department bought one camera to try out a few months ago and was satisfied with its performance.
In addition to the 11 cameras purchased, two firefighters won thermal imaging cameras in a giveaway and then donated them to the department, according to a post on TTFD's Facebook page.
The ArkLaTex 100 club is a local charity whose main purpose is to raise funds for the dependents of first responders who died in the line of duty.
"Remaining funds will be used to purchase any unbudgeted but necessary life-saving equipment and additional training," the club's website states.
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