We are told to bring the thermal imaging camera (TIC) into the building for investigations of smoke conditions and odors. OK, it makes sense to bring it in for smoke conditions, but why bring it in for odors?
The TIC shows us what is hot and what is not. It will identify a hot wall or outlet and even show us hot wires in the wall. If a ground fault has occurred behind the ceiling and it heated up the metal cable and ignited a joist, the TIC should be able to pick it up. If the television or computer monitor is overheating, the TIC will show it as being hot. If a pot of oil heating on the stove has burst into flame, igniting the wood framing behind an overhead kitchen cabinet, the TIC can show the heat behind the open cabinet. When the electric service panel is getting hot, the TIC will show it. The TIC will pick up an overheating fluorescent light ballast or wall switch.
Often, overheating appliances and heating objects give off an odor. It could be an electrical odor, a smoke odor, or some other nondescript odor. Some odors-such as those of an overheating fluorescent light ballast, burning food on the stove, or burning paper or wood-are obvious. However, unlike the overheating ballast, the identity of the source of odors caused by some heating objects or appliances can be difficult to identify.
The TIC is a great tool, but it is just that and no more. It is not a cure-all for our unidentified odor problems. It can miss heating objects. Just because the TIC does not pick up heat, it does not mean that heat does not exist hidden behind a wall or a large appliance or up in an insulated ceiling or behind a dresser or cabinet. At some investigations I have supervised, the TIC missed heat and even fire.
Having and using a TIC does not relieve you from performing a thorough check with your arsenal of older low-tech tools, your senses. You still have to touch the wall or appliance and sniff to locate where the odor is strongest. You still must listen for the crackling of fire or arcing of electricity. You still must look for a haze of smoke or the smoke drifting up from behind a baseboard or counter and search for the smoke-stained wall or melted electrical outlet. Don’t forget to interrogate the occupants as to where and when they first noted the odor and what was going on in the house at the time. Now, filter all this information through your past experiences and gut feelings to help you find the source of an odor.
FIREFIGHTERS SHOULD INVESTIGATE ODORS AND ALSO USE THE TIC
At one investigation for an electrical odor in a private home, we found nothing after a thorough search. The odor had started to dissipate. I was in the process of telling the owner that we could not find the source of the odor and explaining that if the odor reoccurred, he should call us again.
As I was walking out of the building, the faint remaining odor became a haze in the kitchen. Further investigation now revealed smoke puffing up from behind the refrigerator. It wasn’t there before. We pulled the appliance out from the wall and discovered flaming combustion in some papers and debris bunched behind it. The compressor had overheated and given off the electrical odor. It got hot enough to ignite the dust and paper that, over time, had collected behind the refrigerator. The stage was now set for a disaster. Had we left and had the occupant gone to bed, we might have returned to this home for a serious, if not fatal, fire.
My investigation had been thorough but not good enough. This incident occurred before our truck companies carried TICs. I am not sure that the camera would have identified the heating motor in the rear of the refrigerator, but it might have.
Since then, I recommend that all odors be investigated by the TIC as well as by firefighters using the old tried and true methods mentioned above. Bringing the TIC into every odor investigation allows the firefighters to become expert in interpreting what the camera shows them. If a firefighter does not know how warm something is normally, how can he tell if it is overheating? Practice goes a long way toward solving that problem.
At a subsequent investigation, we had an odor and no obvious source. The camera showed heat under a refrigerator, so we looked at another refrigerator in the building for comparison. The area beneath the second one was not as hot. Close scrutiny of the under area of the first one revealed that every few seconds there was a visible electric arc under the refrigerator. Some sort of an electrical fault was creating heat under the appliance. We unplugged it, and the problem was solved. If we had not found it, we might have been called back later to a fire.
Many things can go wrong electrically in a house. Appliances have limit switches and high-temperature cutoff switches that can fail. Wires can be damaged or overloaded. The wrong light bulb can be put into a lamp or recessed fixture. Both heating and cooling appliances can cause odors and pump them throughout the home. Objects left on or in the stove can melt, smolder, and ignite-all will give off an odor. Kids playing with matches or smoking can inadvertently start a fire. Often, they will attempt to extinguish it themselves and then hide the still-smoldering evidence. In one instance, kids put the smoldering evidence between the mattress and bedspring. It took us a while to find that one.
When unidentified odors occur, the nervous occupant calls us for help. It is our responsibility to take each investigation seriously and conduct it thoroughly. The incident commander (IC) is responsible for seeing that the occupant is left safe. The IC must be satisfied that we have done all that can be done to ensure that this is so. At the end of the day, even after the IC has ensured a thorough search using all of the tools and skills available to him, the source of the odor may still remain a mystery. In these cases, he must ensure that the occupant will not be embarrassed to call us back if the odor returns after we leave the scene and that there are working smoke detectors in the home.
Odor investigation is part science and part art. Unfortunately, we will not discover the source of all odors we are called to investigate, and searching for the source can be frustrating. The bottom line is that the IC must continue the search until he is satisfied, even if everyone else at the scene thinks it is a lost cause. Ultimately, it is the IC who will be held responsible. ■
■ FRANK C. MONTAGNA is a battalion chief and a 35-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York. For the past 18 years, he has served as a chief officer assigned to Battalion 58 and is currently detailed to the FDNY Bureau of Training assigned to curriculum development, creating training programs for chiefs, company officers, and firefighters. He has a degree in fire science from John Jay College, where he has taught fire science and management courses as an adjunct lecturer. He is the author of Responding to “Routine” Emergencies (Fire Engineering, 1999) and is a member of the editorial advisory board of Fire Engineering. He lectures on various fire-related topics and is a contributor to FDNY’s WNYF magazine.
