Roanoke County firefighters get improved thermal cameras

ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Some local first responders are getting a technology upgrade that could help save lives.

Roanoke County firefighters have nine new thermal imaging cameras.

They’re more user-friendly than their current cameras and are more responsive.

Funding from the Virginia Department of Fire Programs paid for the cameras.

“We want folks to use the camera to make decisions and not necessarily just look for hot spots, not look for victims, things like that,” said Roanoke County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Charlie Rucker. “We want people to analyze the fire environment and make sure we don’t need to do some things on the front end before we try to go in the house.”

The firefighters hope to get four more new cameras in 2021.