Bank Donates Life-saving Camera to Kirkwood Fire

Earlier this week Eagle Bank presented 12 area fire departments with a state-of-the-art thermal imaging camera, including the Kirkwood Fire Deparment.

Each of the fire departments already had at least one thermal imager, but all expressed a growing need for more, according to Eagle Bank which made the donation as part of its 100th anniversary celebration.

The primary purpose of the thermal imager is to locate victims in smoke-filled rooms.

"Typically in a fire you may have smoke backing all the way to the floor of a structure, where you can...hardly see your hand in front of your face," said James Sommer, acting captain for Firehouse 1. "With zero visibility, you can take (thermal imagers) in and pick up heat signatures on a person's body as long as you're not in the actual fire room."

But thermal imagers can serve multiple functions in the field. For instance, the tool proves useful for firefighters when trying to locate a suspicious odor. 

"They can scan light fixtures, walls and electrical outlets and can show heat differences, enabling us to find problems before they get larger," Sommer said.

Eagle Bank presented the department with a $5,000 Bullard Eclipse thermal imaging camera during a ceremony Tuesday at Firehouse 1. The thermal imager is lighter than older models and possesses more functions, according to Sommet.

For instance, newer imagers can tell the temperature of a fire, which is useful in flashover situations. A flashover is when the temperature of a fire becomes so hot that everything in a room ignites simultaneously.

"By being able to detect the temperature in a room, we can predict when we are getting into dangerous situation where a room may actually flash over soon," Sommer said.

Bank Spokeswoman Susan Evans said that Eagle Bank donated the thermal imagers to make the 100th anniversary celebration more about the neighborhoods that the bank serves versus just being about the bank.

According to Eagle Bank, Missouri has been ranked as the 10th deadliest state when it comes to fire deaths, with an average of 120 fire deaths annually and this donation is an effort to help prevent those deaths.