BCCRS Uses IRIS®
To Find Fire Victim

Firefighter/rescuers from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad used a new helmet mounted thermal imaging camera to find an unconscious victim trapped in a house fire.

Fire/rescue units from the Bethesda Fire Department and the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad responded to a report of a house fire at 9514 Lindale Drive in Bethesda just before 5:00 PM on Tuesday, January 7, 1997. Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters encountered heavy smoke coming from the residence. Two search and rescue crews from BCCRS's Rescue Squad 18 entered the house to search for any occupants. The units found a fire in the living room with heavy smoke in the entire house.

BCCRS firefighter/rescuers Jeff Hearle and Matthew Danaher started searching the residence under blinding smoke conditions. Because of a new state-of-the-art device, however, Hearle was able to see through the smoke. The crew was using the Cairns IRIS®, a helmet-mounted thermal imaging camera that allows a firefighter to see through heavy smoke and find victims trapped in a fire.

Hearle and Danaher used the IRIS® to spot a closed door that led to the home's kitchen. They entered the kitchen and spotted an unconscious man laying on the floor. They immediately picked up the victim and removed him from the house to waiting ambulance and medic crews from BCCRS.

The victim, a 40 year old male, was transported to Suburban Hospital and later flown by helicopter to the Medstar unit of the Washington Hospital Center with serious respiratory burns and burns to his upper body.

This is the first time that an unconscious victim has been located and rescued using the IRIS® since BCCRS started using the camera just six months ago. The Rescue Squad was the first department in the entire Washington Metropolitan area to purchase this special device. Currently, only one other area department (in Prince George's County, MD) uses the IRIS®.

The IRIS® gives firefighters a black-and-white picture of everything in front of the firefighter. For the first time, firefighters in a burning structure can see through heavy smoke with relative clarity. A firefighter using the IRIS® camera can easily spot the outline of a human body or see the location of a fire under conditions that an ordinary firefighter could not see under.

The IRIS® is produced by Cairns Brothers in coordination with GEC Marconi. The thermal imaging camera is produced using the same technology that allowed for precision air strikes during the Gulf War. The IRIS® creates an image based on differences in temperature.

The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad purchased the Cairns IRIS® for $25,000 using donations from the community. BCCRS purchased the camera as part of a continuing effort to remain on the forefront of fire/rescue services to the area and to provide the residents of Bethesda, Chevy Chase and surrounding communities with the most advanced rescue equipment and services possible.

For more information, please contact Assistant Chief Peter Morris via pager number (301) 973-7363.

Photo release is available upon request.