Thermal imaging camera helps maritime firefighters
A
Flir Systems product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Jan 31, 2002
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has recently bought a thermal imaging camera to allow it to direct fire fighters to areas on a stricken ship that pose the greatest risk
The thermal imaging cameras on board its search and rescue helicopters gave The Maritime and Coastguard Agency the benefit of infrared vision, particularly at night and in poor visibility conditions, but no temperature measurement capability.
This meant that although heat from a fire on a ship could clearly be seen, its characteristics could not be measured, making fire fighting more difficult.
To eliminate this problem, the Agency has recently bought a Flir Systems Thermacam PM695 thermal imaging camera, an investment that now provides the Agency with hand-held, thermal intelligence to direct fire fighters to areas on a stricken ship that pose the greatest risk.
The prime responsibility of the MCA is to minimise loss of life amongst seafarers and coastal users, providing round-the-clock response to maritime emergencies.
This includes taking whatever action is necessary to minimise risk of pollution to the marine environment from ships.
A key person in implementing working practice is Robin Middleton, who has recently been appointed to the new role of Secretary of State's Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention, SOSREP for short.
A post created in response to Lord Donaldson's review, the SOSREP has the power to intervene in salvage operations within UK waters where vessels or fixed platforms present a significant risk of pollution.
Two incidents in particular highlighted for Robin Middleton the need to upgrade the Agency's thermal imaging capability.
In 1999 the MCA was responsible for minimising the hazards posed by a fire on board the container vessel Everdecent following its collision with the cruise ship Norwegian Dream, 20 miles north east of Margate.
Smoke made it very difficult for the search and rescue cameras to provide a clear picture of what exactly was going on.
Crucially, they were also unable to distinguish areas that were alight from those that were simply retaining heat.
A similar problem occurred on the Multitank Ascania that was on passage from Eastham towards Teesport via the Pentland Firth.
A fire broke out in the machinery spaces on this Tuvalu-registered chemical tanker of 2780 gross tonnage which was carrying 1800 tonnes of vinyl acetate monomer.
The reports produced following these incidents strongly recommended that the MCA should replace its search and rescue cameras with a thermal imaging camera capable of measuring and displaying temperatures.
And in response, Robin Middleton authorised the purchase of Flir Systems Thermacam PM695.
"We decided to buy our own camera so that it could be kept as part of our emergency response kit that would be taken to frontline in the event of an incident," concluded camera operator Richard Skeats.
"After extensive trials, the Flir PM695 was judged to meet all our requirements.".
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