At 12:11 PM 10/19/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Have any of your departments purchased a "Thermal Imager" camera for use
in emergency rescue of >students and/or staff trapped in fires or other
situations?

Miami Township Fire-Rescue in Yellow Springs, OH, has had the Cairns Iris
for about 2 years. Because of our relatively low run volume, we have not
used this in a rescue situation yet.  However, it is SOP for someone to don
this for virtually all fires runs and we have found it to be very useful to
find hidden fires (or even burned out ballasts, etc) and in overhaul when
we're looking for hot spots.  Thus, while the marketing focusses on finding
victims (which I'm sure it's very good for...) we have used it more often
for somewhat more mundane situations.  It is neat, that's for sure.

It is easy, I think, for a department to decide that they would like some
kind of imaging device.  I think the tougher decision (related to both
function and cost) is whether to go with a helmet-mounted or handheld device.

(Our department, which is mostly volunteer and serves a population of about
4000, purchased the camera for $25,000 almost entirely through a
fundraising effort that was spearheaded by a local industry leader who
thought the device was a neat idea.  Without this "external" effort, we
could not have made such a purchase given our annual operating and capital
budgets.  I would also add that, personally, if someone were to just hand
me a check for $25,000 and said I could spend it any way I want, I'm not
sure that the camera would actually represent the best way to spend $25,000
given our many other needs.  Thus, this was essentially a gift that we were
thrilled to receive.  We have put it to good use, but the cost-to-benefit
ratio would have to be weighed carefully against other purchases if this
had been an "ordinary expenditure.)

Dave Finster
Lt., MTFR