By TIM STURROCK
Macon Telegraph
If fighting fires was as easy as Hollywood makes it appear, Macon-Bibb County Fire Station 6 wouldn't have received a thermal-imaging camera recently.
But as Fire Chief Jimmy Hartley said Thursday, it isn't that easy.
In movies about firefighters "there is a little fire here and there, and you can see everything, and there's a little smoke wafting," he said.
In real-life scenarios, however, smoke is pitch-black and thick, making it nearly impossible to see, he said.
"(Firefighters) can't see their hands in front of their face. Everything is done by feel," he said.
Thursday, Station 6 on Pio Nono Avenue received a thermal-imaging camera through a charitable donation. The new equipment will help firefighters see through the blackness.
The camera looks like a small TV with a long handle, and in the case of rescues, can help firefighters find victims in burning buildings, Hartley said.
During lean budget times, Hartley said, charitable donations play an important role in the department securing items that aren't absolutely necessary.
The thermal-imaging camera at Station 6 will be the eighth such device among the 19 stations in Bibb County. He said he hopes to eventually equip all stations with the cameras.
The camera is so sensitive that when Hartley removed his hand from a table, the screen of the camera showed the handprint. He said the technology is similar to the technology on missiles that allow the military to see its targets.
The camera will do more than just see victims. It can find windows and doors, which firefighters could open to ventilate a room if needed, Hartley said.
In the late 1980s, charitable donations made the Macon Fire Department one of the first departments in the state to have defibrillators on all of its trucks.
Beverly Olson, a trustee with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which donated the money for the $5,000 camera, said she chose to donate the foundation's money for the camera because it is an important need.
Olson said the device will save lives.
"It's a perfect fit for the foundation," she said.
The Knight Foundation, established in 1950, makes national grants in journalism, education and the fields of arts and culture. It supports community initiatives in 26 cities where Knight Ridder Inc. owns or has owned newspapers. The Telegraph is a Knight Ridder paper. The foundation is separate from and independent of the newspapers.
