Denver, NC-- ELFD was dispatched to a reported illegal burn/smell of electrical fire at 2456 Cherry Ln. Engine 30 and Brush 36 responded with Asst. Chief K. Hogue, Captain L. Keever, Firefighters J. Henkle, J. Fields, A. Rendleman, B. McAlpine, and B. Scott. Firefighter M. Brown responded to the station to standby.
Brush 36 arrived on scene with Capt. Keever assuming command. Extensive search for the illegal burn was ordered. After searching the area no fire was found, but a strong smell of electrical fire was present in the area.
Engine 30 was ordered to search nearby residences and found where the odor was coming from.
The homeowners were not home, but neighbors made contact and the homeowner arrived shortly after. Extensive search for the problem began and interior crews found a recessed can light was overheating with the help of ELFD\'s thermal imaging camera(TIC). Interior crews removed the electrical wires and the light and taped the hole to prevent insulation spread.
No further extension was found. Nearby citizens saved this structure by dialing 911 and reporting the smell. Damage was minimal to the structure.
Below is an exerpt about thermal imaging and how it works. The ELFD TIC helped in keeping the damage in this incident to a minimal
From Bullard website http://bullard.com
All objects have a certain temperature and emit waves of energy called infrared radiation. Hot objects emit more energy than cold objects. A thermal imager translates these energy waves into a viewable image, which shows a “heat picture” of a scene. On the screen of a thermal imager, hotter objects show as white, cooler objects show as black, and objects in between these temperatures are displayed in shades of gray. Because infrared radiation is not blocked by smoke, firefighters can use thermal imagers to see through smoke, enabling them to find victims faster, identify the seat of the fire earlier, and detect structural dangers that could put them at risk.
In some respects, the detector in the TI is similar to the human eye. The TI’s detector (called a focal plane array, or FPA) and the eye are both receivers. They receive electromagnetic energy and convert it into an image for our brains to interpret. The eye receives wavelengths of energy called “visible light,” while the FPA receives wavelengths of heat energy called “infrared.”
The human eye and the TI do not “see” through most materials. Drywall, plaster, concrete, steel, wood, paneling, down comforters, doors, sofas and the like are not transparent to visible light or infrared. They “see” only what is on the surface: colors for the eye, temperature differences for the TI.
