Grant gives Hoodland Fire District new thermal imaging camera

By Garth Guibord

The Sandy Post, Jan 20, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

Garth Guibord / Sandy Post

The Hoodland Fire District received a check for $5,000 on Thursday, Jan. 15, to purchase a new thermal imaging camera.

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On Wednesday, May 21, 2008, firefighters of the Hoodland Fire District located an unresponsive body inside a burning house filled with smoke, and saved a life.

That life – a dog that needed CPR to be revived – might have been lost if it weren’t for the quick work of the firefighters, who utilized a thermal imaging camera (TIC) to locate it. The district acquired the camera approximately nine years ago and has used it about 50 times since, said Fire Chief Mic Eby.

The camera, in effect, allows firefighters to “see” through smoke and darkness to locate anyone inside a building during a fire.

But since the district serves an area approximately 26 miles long, there have been times when the camera was at one end and firefighters responding to an incident at the other end needed to use it but couldn’t.

Now, thanks to a $5,000 grant from Frank Crystal & Company and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, the district has a second TIC to provide better coverage and potentially save more lives.

“We recognize this as more than a grant, but an investment in the fire departments who protect our homes, our businesses and our lives,” said Julie Johnson, territory sales director for Fireman’s Fund in Oregon, when she presented the grant to the district Thursday, Jan. 15. “It’s just essential to what we do in our business in insurance.”

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