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All Rights Reserved
By JIM DOWNING
Staff Writer
Sacramento Bee
Folsom firefighters soon will be able to venture with greater confidence onto lakes and streams and into burning buildings.
With $70,000 in grant funding, the city Fire Department has purchased a swiftwater rescue boat along with two thermal imaging cameras to help firefighters to “see” through dense smoke in a structural blaze.
“We think they’re both tremendous increases to our capabilities,” said Deputy Chief Ron Phillips.
The acquisitions mark another step toward equipping the 71-member Folsom department on par with its giant neighbor, the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, which serves most of rural and suburban Sacramento County. With a staff of 720, Metro Fire is one of the largest fire agencies in the state.
Folsom did not previously have a rescue boat or a thermal imaging camera.
For waterborne help, the department had to rely on Metro Fire, which keeps one of its two rescue boats in Rancho Cordova.
Metro Fire also has 24 thermal imaging cameras, according to spokesman Capt. Steve Turner, meaning that one can be on hand at every structural fire to which the agency responds.
Phillips said that the Folsom department’s new equipment should improve the speed, effectiveness and safety of rescue efforts.
Having a rescue boat within the city limits should cut response times by 10 to 15 minutes for emergencies on the American River, Lake Natoma and flood-swollen local creeks, he said.
The 17-foot 7-inch, 200-horsepower boat has a relatively flat-bottomed, rubberized aluminum hull that helps it to navigate even shallow, fast-flowing water, Phillips said. The department expects to have the boat ready to use by early summer, he said.
The boat was funded entirely by a $49,025 grant from the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company’s Heritage Program.
Fireman’s Fund employee and Folsom resident David Soulsby worked with Phillips and Chief Eric Dutton to prepare the grant application.
“We looked at a number of different (funding) priorities and settled on the boat,” Phillips said.
Novato-based Fireman’s Fund has donated $5 million to fire departments and related nonprofit organizations nationwide in the past two years, according to Community Relations Manager Scott Smith.
To buy the two $10,000 thermal imaging cameras, Folsom used funds from a federal Department of Homeland Security grant.
The 2.6-pound handheld units, which resemble heavy-duty camcorders, translate heat radiation into color pictures on a small video screen. The cameras help firefighters both to spot victims obscured by smoke and debris, and to detect dangerous fire conditions, Phillips said.
While the new tools are exciting, Phillips said that most of the department’s outfitting expenditures still go toward upgrading and replacing aging equipment.
Homeland Security grants recently have funded upgrades to the department’s radio equipment, Phillips said. Like other agencies, the Folsom Fire Department is moving to new communication systems to improve its ability to interact with other fire and safety agencies in the region.
Replacing vehicles is a high priority, too. On Nov. 8, the City Council authorized the department to lease a new $500,000 fire engine. The department is also putting together a financing proposal for a new $1 million ladder truck, Phillips said.