A different picture

Ellen McCarty

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- Thermal imaging cameras may change the way the city

fights fires if officials can persuade council members that the equipment

is worth its $20,000 price tag.

Peering through the cameras, which use infrared technology to detect the

heat of objects in a room, firefighters can spot victims, the layout of a

room and the source of a fire instantly when a burning house is filled

with dense smoke, Capt. Joe Cuccinoti said.

This can make big difference when firefighters have to search a

10-bedroom house, as they did on Sept. 23, when a kitchen fire broke out

in the 9200 block of Anson River Circle.

“We thought there were people trapped upstairs when we arrived on scene,”

Cuccinoti said. “But we had only three rooms searched before we ran out

of air and had to go outside.”

Luckily, there was no one upstairs. But firefighters, unable to see

through the smoke, had to search the rooms by touching the walls and

feeling along the floor with their hands for victims. Furniture can

complicate their efforts, especially if a small child is hiding under a

bed, Cuccinoti said.

The new cameras detect not only the heat of tangible objects, but the

heat of footprints left behind by smoke victims, so the firefighters can

retrace their steps and, ultimately, find them faster.

The fire department has raised about $2,500 in private donations for the

cameras, an amount nowhere near the $60,000 it would require to buy three

of the devices. Cuccinoti said he will give a demonstration of the

cameras and request funding at the Oct. 5 City Council meeting.

To make a donation, call (714) 593-4436.