RESCUE

Bullard first introduced Red Hot colourization in 2000. Since then, colourization has become common on higher performance microbolometer-based thermal imagers.

Super Red Hot uses three colour levels to help firefighters identify dangerous temperatures. The software that creates these colours also incorporates special logic that allows it to shade in and show details behind the colour. As a result, it is one of the few colourization systems that actually gives depth and texture to the image, allowing firefighters to see structural details within the area being coloured. In short, the colour in Super Red Hot from Bullard does not obscure details like some other colour systems.

Bullard Super Red Hot uses yellow, orange and red colours to indicate increasing levels of heat (and danger). Objects that the thermal imager estimates at 500°F (260°C) or hotter are coloured in shades of yellow. At 800°F (427°C), the thermal imager begins to colour objects shades of orange instead of yellow. The orange transitions to red at 1,000°F (538°C), and any object over about 1,120°F (600°C) will be solid red. During fire suppression, in situations where the seat of the fire is not easily identified, the Super Red Hot system should colourize the greatest density of fire as red. This can help with hose placement, as well as proper aiming of streams.

While the thermal imager normally only sees surface temperatures, superheated gases have special properties that make them visible on a thermal imager. Previously, users of microbolometrs had to look for faint white clouds in the thermal image to determine where the thermal layer may be. Since these gases frequently give a high heat signature to the TI, the Super Red Hot feature will normally colourize thermal layers in shades of yellow or orange. This can help new users or less experienced users identify the thermal layer more rapidly, and potentially make better decisions about how far to advance or how quickly to ventilate a structure.

Keep in mid that the temperatures indicated by the Super Red Hot colourizations are estimations, as with the relative heat indicator. A number of factors, most importantly the type of material, affect the accuracy of the estimation. In general, if you can "see" a gas layer on your TI, even if it is white and not colourized, treat is as a superheated layer. Super Red Hot also comes standard on the Bullard T4, T3MAX, T320 and T3XT Thermal Imagers.

Copyright © WFR Wholesale Fire & Rescue Ltd.