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Infrared In Action
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Indiana
firefighters come to a child’s rescue with a
thermal imaging camera. First Quarter 2001.
It was just over a year ago that Zachary
Sheets received his miracle. The
three-year-old and his parents and siblings
count their blessings every day because
Zachary could have died. But he didn’t.
Instead, he was rescued by firefighters
after a three-alarm fire tore through his
family’s Franklin, Ind. home.
When firefighters arrived on the scene in
the usually quiet neighborhood, flames were
shooting out the front window and black
smoke filled the Sheets house. And
two-year-old Zachary was still inside. “I
was able to get my two older sons out of the
blaze,” remembers Zach’s father, Chris
Sheets, “but I couldn’t find Zach. Every
time I tried to go back in, I couldn’t
because of the heat and smoke.”
The sound of sirens
The first fire unit arrived on the scene
only minutes later. Firefighter Scott Coombs
jumped off the truck, sized up the situation
and immediately entered the building.
“I knew we had precious seconds because I
could see at least 40 percent of the
structure was engulfed in flames,” Coombs
remembers. “I went in, knowing backup was on
the way. I was immediately met with thick
black smoke and couldn’t see a thing.”
Coombs continued his search for the boy
utilizing traditional firefighting
techniques: hands-and-knees searching and
calling. In the meantime, a second unit
arrived carrying additional firefighters —
and a thermal imaging camera. Firefighter
Mark Hash grabbed the camera and entered the
burning building. Within seconds of
entering, he saw the heat signature of
Zach’s body on the camera’s screen. “I could
see two firefighters standing in the
hallway. Several others were searching the
bedrooms,” Hash recalls. “Then I saw
firefighter Tim Coble standing just to the
left of the hallway and at his feet I saw
Zach.”
Hash recalls being stunned because the boy
was supposed to have been in the back
bedroom. Hash tapped Coble on the shoulder
and pointed to the toddler. Coble scooped up
the child and quickly removed him from the
building.“We all thought the boy was in his
room, but he wasn’t. Firefighters had been
past him before, but didn’t find him,” says
Hash.
A lifesaving tool
The Sheets family credits the firefighters
and the thermal imaging camera for saving
Zach’s life. Had the camera not been there,
my son might not be alive today. That camera
is something special,” Chris says. Zach’s
mother Tanetta stresses the need for every
fire department to have a thermal imaging
camera. “Do whatever it takes to get one —
fundraisers, whatever. There’s another child
out there who may not be as lucky as Zach
someday because his firefighters didn’t have
the technology,” she says. “If Franklin’s
fire department hadn’t had a thermal imager,
I fear I would have lost a son.”
A bright future
Zach and his family have persevered over the
past year. Zach still receives regular
medical treatment. Fluid is temporarily
injected under his scalp to stretch his skin
and help it regrow. There will be many
trials as he grows older, but the Sheets
family continues to count their blessings
and looks forward to a bright future.
“It’s good to see Zach do what a
three-year-old is supposed to do,” says his
mother. “Doctors used to question whether
he’d be able to walk or move his fingers
enough to hold a pencil. Well, he can do it
all now. He even colors on my walls quite
well.”
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