First lieutenant Ben Harrison, Rod Sloan, Simon Edwards and Phil Hawkey inspect Branjee Fire Brigade’s new thermal imaging camera with brigade captain Steven Hill.
The Branjee CFA brigade recently took stock of a new thermal imaging camera which was purchased with a regional recovery grant to help in fighting fires.
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The Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal provided $3722 to supply the camera as part of the organisation’s 2023 $2.7 million grants program announced on Tuesday, September 19 to help support over 200 regional communities across Australia.
More than $300,000 was given to Victorian communities affected by the 2022-23 floods.
Brangee CFA captain Steven Hill said the brigade welcomed the camera and acknowledged the FRRR’s funding.
Mr Hill met with volunteer firefighters First Lieutenant Ben Harrison, Rod Sloan, Phil Hawkey and Simon Edwards on Thursday, January 12 at the Branjee station to try out the hi-tech cameras.
The camera is designed with a heat sensor to identify hot spots that exist either within logs or underground after a fire has been put out.
The hot spots are then ‘blacked out’ with more water.
“We were fortunate to get that grant from FRRR and the camera will certainly be used,” Mr Hill said.
“It’s designed to detect smouldering fires that we can’t see.
“The advantage is to ensure that the hot spots are identified.
“It’s a better use of our time to make sure the job is done right the first time.”
Previous methods of identifying hot spots involved spraying water over the area to look for steam or else to touch the ground.
Mr Sloan said just one camera was sufficient per vehicle.
“You would not know what it’s worth,” Mr Sloan said.
“You usually just squirt the water and then feel the ground with gloves.
“But it’s happened a few times that if you miss just one spot then the fire can get off again, it can cost millions.”
The camera uses heat radiation from any object to determine temperature.
Mr Sloan said a hot spot flare-up happened during the Strathbogie fire of December 1990 to January 1991.
“There was fire at the back of Longwood and they thought they had it out and then it turned into a real mongrel of an afternoon and away it went,” he said.
“It didn’t burn much the day it happened but it flared up and burnt thousands of acres.”
Mr Hawkey said the camera made firefighting more efficient.
“This truck’s tank is going to go a whole lot further because identifying hotspots with this will make it more water efficient — we don’t have to spray everywhere looking for steam to come up,” Mr Hawkey said.
“Another example is that one of our trucks rolled over while mopping up and blacking out, but if they walked up the hill with one of these, they would have had better access.”
FRRR connects common purposes and funding from government, business and philanthropists with genuine local needs of rural people and places.
The foundation paid for the camera to boost volunteer emergency services capacity and increase community safety in a bushfire-impacted region.
FRRR’s place portfolio lead Jill Karena said that FRRR’s small grants have supported rural Australia for the past 23 years and that the program’s flexibility was one of the ‘key reasons’ for its popularity.
“Virtually every part of Australia is recovering from one or more disasters, from the pandemic to floods, bushfires or drought – and many have experienced successive or even overlapping events,” Ms Karena said.
“Flexible funding means that we can support projects that meet a wide range of needs, reflecting what the community sees as a priority.”
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