DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUE OF THERMAL IMAGING CAMERAS FOR FIREFIGHTERS

Abstract

Issues of combating hazardous fire factors such as smoke and heat, which are being fought by the firefighters whit self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA units) of State Emergency Service of Ukraine, remains one of the complicated tasks which should be solved by the operational units. The concentration of toxic substances in the first minutes of the fire are 12-100 times above the maximum. The average volume temperature in the first 5-10 minutes of fire can reach 140-900 оС. The rate of smoke spreading and toxic substances is very high. Every year, about 16 per 1 million people worldwide die from the cause of poisoning by combustion products during the fire, moreover, this trend is increasing every year.
 Therefore, the effectiveness of rescuing people, eliminating fires and carrying out rescue operations in the non-breathable environment depends, largely, on the speed of carrying out such operative actions, with the help of technical means one of which is a thermal imaging camera (TIC). As foreign practice shows, firefighters have widely used TICs during firefighting, searching victims and reconnaissance, however, in Ukraine, these devices have only just begun to appear in SES units. Thus, the study of the assessment of the parameters of TICs and their subsequent comparison is an urgent scientific task. The solving of which makes it possible to improve the efficiency of fire elimination during firefighting with zero visibility and a large number of combustion products by the SCBA units. Accordingly, there is a need for developing an assessment technique of the TIC parameters, which ensure the effectiveness of reconnaissance, searching the sources of fire and rescue operations by the SCBA units.
 The article describes the assessment methodology for estimating the parameters of TICs, according to which will be conducted experimental studies based on the fire module of Lviv State University of Life Safety. The aims of this study will identify the influence of fire environmental on the parameters of the TICs and on the efficiency of the reconnaissance process by the SCBA units in order to detect the fire cell and other issues. After conducting the research, comparative data will be presented that will allow to evaluate and select the most optimal variant of the TICs for the SES of Ukraine.