Firefighters burn to learn

Normally, the fire department doesn't advocate burning down houses. But on Saturday, January 19, the Sisters/Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District held a "Burn to Learn" exercise in which they deliberately set a building on fire -- so they could train on how to more effectively and safely do their job.

While the fire department has conducted this exercise in the past, this one was for the added purpose of testing a variety of thermal imaging cameras.

"Normally, when a fire crew goes into a building that's on fire, they can't see anything at all because of the smoke," fire chief Don Rowe explained. "It's black in there, and they have to literally feel their way along. A thermal imaging camera is an infrared camera that picks up heat. It allows you to see through the smoke. With this, we can identify where the source of the fire is -- even if it's behind a wall."

The camera has the potential to save lives as well.

"It can show where an individual is, which is helpful if somebody is incapacitated in the building. If a fireman or somebody else is in trouble, we can locate a body with this," he said.

The fire district has been raising funds to purchase a thermal imaging camera and this "burn to learn" exercise marks the field testing phase of the purchase.

After the various thermal imaging cameras are used, they will be evaluated.

"We'd like to make a decision this week and order one," Chief Rowe said. "Hopefully, we'll have it on hand shortly."