Springfield’s fire department will have another weapon at its disposal after city council approved a bid for a thermal imaging system.

 

Council members approved a bid of $6,657 for the camera, which usually cost about $10,000.

 

“Sometimes you can piggyback on another bid,” said Bubba Rahn of the Springfield Fire Department. 

 

Some larger departments are buying hundreds of the cameras at once, Rahn said, allowing Springfield to take advantage of a lower price.

“You can spend up to $14,000 for these cameras for all the bells and whistles,” Rahn said.

 

The cameras the Springfield Fire Department is purchasing aren’t the barebones models, Rahn explained. They will be improved versions of a camera the department tried out a few years ago.

 

Rahn also extolled their life-saving capabilities. 

 

“You can do a sweep of this room,” he said of the city council chambers, “in 15 seconds.”

 

For a firefighter to conduct search of a smoke-filled room with a partner on their hands and knees could take five minutes. Such cameras also could enable firefighters to save property. Rahn said the department had the use of another outfit’s thermal camera while fighting a house fire on 3rd Street. The cameras revealed hot spots that weren’t emitting smoke and may have gone unnoticed by firefighters. 

 

“A fire will hide in the walls,” he said.

 

The cameras will be purchased out of the fire department’s budget. City Manager Brett Bennett said the city had budgeted for the thermal imaging systems a couple of different times. 

 

The city also may dip into its special purpose local option sales tax proceeds to purchase another patrol car. Chief Paul Wynn’s vehicle has more than 156,000 miles. Any new car, the chief told council earlier this month, will go to another officer.

 

“I’ll grab one of the older cars,” he said.