Indiana Firefighters Rescue Child After Older Brothers Start Fire
Posted: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 - 2:30 PM
NICOLE LOZARE
Firehouse.Com News
Franklin, IN -- When firefighters arrived on the scene of a house fire on October 9th, flames were shooting
out the front window, and black smoke filled the structure. And two year-old
Zachary Sheets was still inside.
His father was able to evacuate his two
older sons
but was unable to retrieve Zachary,the youngest, because he couldn't
navigate through
the thick smoke that had permeated the house.
Franklin Firefighters Tim Coble and Mark Hash rushed in and began
searching for
the boy with a Thermal Imaging Camera. Within minutes they saw the heat
signature of
Zachary's body on the camera screen. Zachary was lying face down in the
hallway outside of
his bedroom. He was barely breathing.
"If we hadn't had the camera, Zachary's chances of surviving would have
been slim," said Captain Mike Herron, Director of EMS for the Franklin Fire
Department.
"It would have taken us a lot longer to search for him, and by then, it
probably would have
been too late."
Zachary's 3 and 4 year-old brothers had started a fire in his bedroom
closet
with a cigarette lighter while their father was asleep. Zachary is still in
critical condition
at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, officials said.
Thermal imaging cameras are revolutionizing the fire industry. These
sophisticated devices, sold for $15,000 to $22,000 per camera, enable
firefighters to
see heat rather than light. They can help find unconscious victims in
smoke-filled rooms,
pinpoint the sources of fires, and detect structural dangers before they
cause injury and
death.
The thermal imaging camera used to save Zachary Sheets is made by
Bullard, one of a half-dozen or so manufacturers of the high-tech devices that have
been credited for saving at least a dozen lives over the past two years.
Related Thermal-Imaging Links:
