VIDEO/PHOTOS: The Madison Fire Department is working with new technology and new tools, including a new thermal imaging camera equipped on every crew member. MFD is committed to training new firefighters, but also maintaining constant training with new opportunities, tools and technology, to grow skills.
The newest tool MFD is using is a SEEK FirePRO 300 thermal imaging camera (TIC). The device shows differences in surface temperature when scanning an environment, including detecting objects and people through heavy smoke. โWe look at it as a priority to get people trained so they can use this; that camera right there can mean the difference between life and death,โ explained Fire Lieutenant in the Training Division, Bradley Olson.
Olson says the cameras help crew members better navigate scenes and help see possible victims in the structure. Around 410 members of the Madison Fire Department are trained to use the tool, and they have 88 on duty every day who all have the technology available to them. The department previously equipped lieutenants with a thermal imaging camera, but this new version is lighter, smaller and cheaper, allowing them to equip more members.
โItโs a huge tool for us to utilize,โ said Nick George, who is a firefighter and paramedic. โNow weโre locating heat signatures in the walls and making sure that all of the fire is put out so we donโt have to come back for a rekindle, and just making the environment safer.”
