By Jennifer Delgado
The Orlando Sentinel
WINTER PARK, Fla. — A new thermal-imaging camera will help increase the safety of Winter Park firefighters and people trapped in buildings.
On Tuesday, the Fire Department got a boost toward its purchase of an updated model.
The camera’s sensor enables firefighters to see through smoke and darkness so that individuals can be found faster.
The camera also helps firefighters find hot spots and the fire’s source, which allows them to aim water directly at the origin and reduce damage. The highly sensitive gear can detect temperatures up to 1,040 degrees.
Winter Park insurance agency Cooper, Simms, Nelson & Mosley and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. donated a check to the Fire Department on Tuesday.
The money, along with two other grants, helped Winter Park fire officials pay for the camera, which costs about $8,500.
Part of the grant funding also is going to the department’s Community Smoke Detector Program, which places smoke detectors in homes.
Although fire officials said they have five similar imaging cameras, those devices are older. The new camera is state-of-the-art equipment.
“It brings us up to latest technology and allows us to do the job safer,” said fire Chief Jim White.
Fire departments across the state are facing budget crunches, so there is little money to update or purchase such lifesaving gear, department officials said.
This year, 77 percent of Florida fire departments postponed buying new equipment, and 62 percent delayed replacing equipment.
“This is twice as better of a camera than all the ones we’ve ever had,” said Capt. Jimm Walsh, a training officer for the Fire Department. Walsh said the new camera can measure one-sixteenth of a degree difference between objects.
Copyright 2009 Sentinel Communications Co.