Thermal Imaging Carl Nix

Building relationships among firefighters is vital to staying safe on the job. My brothers and sisters of the fire service always have my back when a call comes in.

Our jobs are demanding and at times dangerous. We are passionate about our work—so passionate that we regard it as a calling. Our friends in law enforcement are very much like firefighters. They, too, are passionate about their work and believe it is a calling.

Over the years, I have built close relationships with the law enforcement community by combining our resources to respond to a variety of calls. Some calls were rescue situations, while others were responding to apprehending suspects. Whatever the call, we were always willing to combine our resources and work side by side to resolve the situation. Today, many of my friends in law enforcement call when they have a situation where the technology of a thermal imaging camera (TIC) would prove valuable. When I ask why their department doesn’t make the investment in purchasing a TIC, the response is, “We can borrow yours.”

Since borrowing a fire department’s TIC is becoming a more common occurrence, I thought it would be helpful to discuss some of the instances where a TIC can be used in law enforcement scenarios. We know that TICs can detect extremely small differences in temperature. This feature is very helpful for police officers because it allows them to easily distinguish people from their immediate surroundings. Just like the TIC provides another set of eyes for firefighters, it provides officers with an additional eye to help bring a situation under control. For instance, the TIC is a powerful tool for locating victims, uncovering evidence, identifying threats, scene containment, search and rescue, hazmat response, vehicle accidents, SWAT operations, riots, officer rescue, and maritime operations.

Let’s look at an example of an incident where both police and firefighters would be responding—a motor vehicle accident that happens at night because of darkness, slick road conditions, and poor visibility. On the scene are police vehicles and fire trucks with their warning lights flashing. A scene like this makes it extremely difficult to monitor personnel or equipment. With a TIC, we can effectively control and monitor this scene because it can look beyond the blinding walls of light, darkness, fog, or smoke. The TIC is not affected by these things, making it more effective for emergency responders to locate victims who may have been thrown from cars or pursue someone on foot who may be fleeing the accident scene. The TIC can help responders monitor the scene and filter out some of the chaos that could impede rescue efforts.

It would be remiss of me not to compare the differences between night vision and thermal imaging technology since I’m sure many of you reading this column are already asking that question. Night vison magnifies existing light and enhances imagery. Thermal imaging detects heat signatures or infrared energy that is not affected by light unless a lighting source directly affects surface temperature. Just as thermal imaging is ingrained within the fire service, night vision is the mainstay in the law enforcement community.

There are TICs designed specifically for law enforcement, but they could not survive in fire appli