Warren Fire Department trains with new thermal cameras

WARREN — Firefighters from the city of Warren used their new Seek thermal cameras to navigate their way through the fire and black smoke of a simulated flashover fire during a training session last month.

A flashover is a fire that occurs when most combustible materials in an enclosed space ignite almost simultaneously. The simulated fire chamber had wood and all the combustibles in an ordinary house.

“Flashover fires are dangerous, not only to residents and victims but to firefighters as well,” said Joe Schehr, training coordinator for the Warren Fire Department. “Those temperatures can be in excess of 1,100 degrees, which our gear is not rated for that.”

The Seek cameras allow the firefighters to preview the conditions.

“With the new Seek camera, firefighters can gauge the conditions of the room before going in,” Schehr said.

The camera shows the temperature of the room, the location of the fire, and if any people are in the building. That can save valuable time and mitigates loss.

During the training session, eight firefighters stayed in the simulated flashover fire chamber, or the box, for about 30-35 minutes. They came out and then went back in individually to become more familiar with the camera and receive more detailed instructions from their instructors. The screen on the camera changes color depending on the temperature of the fire. The more red on the screen, the hotter the fire.

“We’ve done training for all of the shifts of the firefighters so that every firefighter understands what the conditions of a flashover fire would look like, how to look for it in the smoke and how to see what it looks like, look for indications that it is getting hotter quickly and either change the environment by opening the water, change the ventilation by opening a door or window to change the atmosphere, or just get out,” Schehr said.

The Seek camera has been around for a couple of years, according to Schehr.

“We purchased 10 so every fire engine in the city will have a camera,” Schehr said.

Warren City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Dave Dwyer used the thermal camera at the training site.

“It’s cool. It’s a great tool,” he said.

Standing outside of the flashover fire chamber, the heat was very hot.

“All of our firefighters went through a fire academy before they were hired here in the city of Warren, but we’re doing this as well because this is, again, high stress, high heat conditions, so we want to do it in a controlled environment,” Schehr said. “So we can get them comfortable and proficient, (to) trust their gear, trust their training, trust their partner. So now, when they go into that environment, they will know the environment, and they can make a decision to exit or do something else.”