As firefighters, we train in all aspects of our job, but we face challenges because we use so many different types of equipment depending on what our duties are. We need to be proficient in using all of them. Why is this month’s topic important? We use thermal imaging cameras (TICs) to help us see where we are going, but what is it that we are really looking at? How are we interpreting the images we are seeing on the TIC?

Image interpretation is one of the most critical skills a firefighter needs to develop to successfully use a TIC. Firefighters need to be able to glance at the TIC display and understand the image being shown. This is a learned skill that comes with understanding the technology of thermal imaging coupled with practical experience in the field.

Let’s look at a scenario. You are responding to a structure fire call and your crew arrives on the scene to see smoke coming from the building. The crew begins pulling and charging attack lines, and you grab the TIC and do a quick 360° of the structure. The question is, are you interpreting what you are seeing on the TIC’s display correctly? Every structure will demonstrate at least four different but totally normal images on a TIC based on many factors including day vs. night and winter vs. summer conditions. A mobile home, for example, will look different than a masonry structure. A wood-frame-sided home will look different than a steel structure.

Windows will also impact the information your TIC tells you based on single-, double-, or triple-pane designs. Window treatments if covering the window can impact image information as well. Older and poorly designed windows and doors can exhibit thermal images that could easily mislead you as to the real heat value of the structure without a normal image baseline.

When our naked eye sees things, our brain computes it and we understand it, but when we see images through the display lens of a TIC, we now must try to understand what we are looking at. Some heat signatures or anomalies will be obvious, but other images we will not understand. If we detect something and can recognize and understand it, then we move on; but if we detect something, cannot recognize it, and cannot understand it, then we must investigate it.

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Posted: Feb 1, 2019

Interpreting TIC Images

Manfred Kihn

As firefighters, we train in all aspects of our job, but we face challenges because we use so many different types of equipment depending on what our duties are. We need to be proficient in using all of them. Why is this month’s topic important? We use thermal imaging cameras (TICs) to help us see where we are going, but what is it that we are really looking at? How are we interpreting the images we are seeing on the TIC?

Image interpretation is one of the most critical skills a firefighter needs to develop to successfully use a TIC. Firefighters need to be able to glance at the TIC display and understand the image being shown. This is a learned skill that comes with understanding the technology of thermal imaging coupled with practical experience in the field.

Let’s look at a scenario. You are responding to a structure fire call and your crew arrives on the scene to see smoke coming from the building. The crew begins pulling and charging attack lines, and you grab the TIC and do a quick 360° of the structure. The question is, are you interpreting what you are seeing on the TIC’s display correctly? Every structure will demonstrate at least four different but totally normal images on a TIC based on many factors including day vs. night and winter vs. summer conditions. A mobile home, for example, will look different than a masonry structure. A wood-frame-sided home will look different than a steel structure.

Windows will also impact the information your TIC tells you based on single-, double-, or triple-pane designs. Window treatments if covering the window can impact image information as well. Older and poorly designed windows and doors can exhibit thermal images that could easily mislead you as to the real heat value of the structure without a normal image baseline.

When our naked eye sees things, our brain computes it and we understand it, but when we see images through the display lens of a TIC, we now must try to understand what we are looking at. Some heat signatures or anomalies will be obvious, but other images we will not understand. If we detect something and can recognize and understand it, then we move on; but if we detect something, cannot recognize it, and cannot understand it, then we must investigate it.

1 Photos courtesy of Bullard.

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