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Thermal Imaging Needs Assessment/Purchasing/Training Guidelines: The following document was developed to assist departments with purchasing thermal imaging cameras and with their training needs. This document is the sole property of Insight Training LLC and is copyright protected. It may be used within the confines of the host organization but not for financial gain or instruction purposes without the written permission of Insight Training LLC. I. Decide upon purchasing either a Situational Awareness TIC (mask mounted/SCBA mounted or small low cost/low resolution) or a Decision-Making TIC (High Resolution, High Dynamic Range, Fast Processor Speed, Multi-Application Use). You may read the full article [...]

As a training officer I am always interested in any form of post incident analysis or after action review my department completes. Whether it is formal or informal it doesn’t matter, the lessons often learned by individuals from these moments need to be shared to the entire department. From my perspective, my organization is not overly staffed and any form of a rapid intervention crew will be late in the incident. Therefore, mayday prevention is vital and proactive steps must be taken. And any lesson learned that is shared might prevent a similar occurrence with more tragic consequences. As a firefighter, I have been amazed [...]

The following speech was given at the FIERO 2019 PPE Symposium... “PPE Thermal Limits are designed to protect the firefighter to a tested specified limit, yet our tactics do not consider these limits when placing the firefighter into these IDLH environments. We need to transform our processes to provide these tactical approaches. We have the tools, yet we refuse to modify these SOPs. If we know better and do not, we are negligent! Learn about the changes needed.” Chief Joe Starnes-Founder Project Kill the Flashover. What affects everything we do each day? Temperature, Weather, and the exposure to those elements. What [...]

Have you noticed that there are numerous color palettes and color temperature associations with fire service thermal imaging cameras?   Why is this so? Doesn’t NFPA 1801 standardize this issue and prevent confusing color temperature associations? Sadly, this isn’t the case. This is the NFPA 1801 approved color/temperature progression for thermal imaging cameras under the TI Basic Color Palette (black, grey, white, yellow, orange & red). According to NFPA 1801 (Standard for Thermal Imagers for the Fire Service section 6.6.4.2.2 & 6.6.4.2.3) colors should meet the following criteria: “Colorization shall overlay the grayscale thermal images produced by the thermal imager. Details [...]

Do you know the Two main types of Fire Service Thermal Imaging Cameras? Don’t be fooled by low price! You will find that you get what you pay for… There is a lot of confusion in the fir service today about thermal imaging cameras. Many departments are purchasing TIC’s such as the FLIR K2, the Scott Sight, the MSA ITIC or the SEEK. These devices are situational awareness cameras and NOT decision making TIC’s. They have a specific purpose and are often misused. What does this mean exactly? A situational awareness TIC is solely designed to prevent disorientation. It is used [...]

The use of thermal imaging cameras has enhanced the firefighter’s overall effectiveness particularly in the area of searching for victims or downed firefighters. In the late 90’s several large and well-known fire departments were invited to participate in a study. They were given two identical search scenarios: one conducted without a TIC and one conducted with a TIC. The results were staggering. Without the use of a TIC the search crews missed the victims 60% of the time whereas they found the victim with the TIC while searching 99% of the time. In addition to this the total search time was [...]