From Spotsylvania Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management:
The Spotsylvania Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management recently took delivery of 105 hand-held thermal imaging cameras. The purchase of the Seek Reveal FirePRO cameras, referred to as “situational awareness” cameras, will equip each responding firefighter in Spotsylvania with the technology needed to help navigate smoke filled rooms and hallways, and to locate occupants and each other while fighting fires.
Having the ability to see through the thick dark smoke will allow all firefighters to conduct searches more quickly, and to maintain an awareness of their location within a building on fire, where it is easy to become disoriented. Spotsylvania Fire Chief Jay Cullinan says the deployment of these cameras “have the potential to save the lives of occupants as the cameras help speed the search and rescue process, and will improve the safety of our firefighters when they go inside a building to fight a fire”.
These cameras will help firefighters locate active fire or hotspots that may be smoldering after the main body of the fire is extinguished. They will also aid in a variety of other incidents firefighters routinely respond to, such as searching for missing persons or attempting to locate victims of motor vehicle crashes in the dark of night.
Spotsylvania has been using thermal imaging cameras to assist with firefighting activities since the late 1990s, but up until this recent purchase, there had only been one camera per firefighting crew. These existing cameras, referred to as “decision making” cameras, have expanded functionality and will still be in use by the officer of the crew. However, the new Seek thermal imaging cameras will put some of that same capability in the hands of each firefighter, making them more effective in their life saving tasks.
The purchase of the new situational awareness cameras was possible through the use of Aid to Localities funding, made available by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Fire Programs Fund; a program that provides Virginia cities, towns and counties with funds to assist in paying for training, construction of training centers, firefighting equipment and protective clothing.
