Fire Behavior and Thermal Imaging: The Basics (34MA)

Sports teams study their opponents more than we study an enemy that can kill us. Fire behavior and thermal imager technology have changed over time, and we need to keep up with the science.  Fire behavior training seems insignificant, as fire school is usually the only education firefighters get in the service, and it is minimal. Thermal imaging is a tool used with limited or no education, as studies have shown. The only real way to know anything about a topic is to understand it. I also say that knowing you are comfortable with a topic is demonstrated by teaching and passing it on. If you can teach it, you understand it. 

Do you understand the basics of fire behavior? Flow path recognition, hostile fire events, and the basics of reading smoke to help you understand what is occurring inside the structure?  Do you understand what to look for to detect the possibility of a hostile fire event?

Have you ever had a thermal imager class? The sales team may review how to turn it on, change the batteries, and navigate the settings. This is like being told the parts of the Halligan and telling you to go force a door. If you were handed a tool without training, you would not be comfortable with it. Why do we do that with a thermal imaging camera? This class will combine two topics in the service that need more discussion than they receive: fire behavior and thermal imaging.

The moral of the story and why I am presenting this class is that, I never knew what I did not know until I realized that I did not know it. I hope that this presentation will give you many of the A-ha moments I had when diving into this information.