“Fighting a home fire is not like it used to be,” noted Bluewater Fire Rescue District Chief and Inspector Preston Neff. “The fire dynamics are changing. Home fires are much hotter because of all the synthetics in them nowadays. It’s not just grandma’s 1970s couch anymore,” he explained.
Due to the changes, Neff said he is always looking for ways his department can afford modern equipment, including most recently the possibility of purchasing thermal-imaging masks.
According to Neff, in the last review he saw which was in April, only 200 thermal imaging masks had been manufactured in the United States. In addition, no fire department in the state of New Mexico had received the most modern firefighter mask until last week when Bluewater Fire Department received six of them.
Neff said, “Knowing I was interested in these new masks, I was contacted by a woman in Artesia. She said she could get them for me.”
With funds from the county’s chief association, Neff said he immediately ordered six of them for $1,200 each. “Normally, they cost about $2,000. We got a deal,” he added.
The new modern mask allows firefighters, hands free, to monitor the situation, including the temperature during a fire. “We can now see everybody, including someone possibly trapped under a bed,” emphasized Neff.