How Thermal Imaging is Saving the Lives of Australians from Fires

Electrical Fires in Australia

​Electric-caused fires have long been a serious threat to buildings and people in Australia.

In the early years of the second decade of the 21st century when modern safety measures should have been available for establishments, electrical fires were still a persistent problem. 

One such case is that of the Coogee Bay Hotel which experienced an electrical fire on its ground floor on July 12, 2012 and forced 270 people to evacuate en masse.

A damaged high voltage electrical switchboard emitted smoke which spread through multiple floors of the hotel. 
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Considering that the fire was not believed to be intentionally-caused, this case demonstrates how faulty electrical equipment can cause serious damage when left unattended.  

Even in recent months, electric-caused fires have been causing damage to large buildings in Australia. 

On October 16, 2020 a large fire erupted in a substation in the basement of Westmead Hospital in Sydney due to electrical fault sparks. 

Two hundred people including 60 patients were forced to evacuate the facility which was engulfed in thick smoke from the basement fire. 

Electric-caused fires do not only threaten large establishments. For many years, they have also ruined many homes.

Statistical data indicate that electrical malfunctions are a primary cause of fires in Australian homes - the numbers are alarming with approximately 40% of house fires in New South Wales being due to faulty electrical appliances or wiring systems. 

In Tasmania, electrical-caused fires are a category that stands as the third highest in terms of frequency of occurrence.   

In Victoria, Country Fire Authority (CFA) reports that the most common cause of house fires are from cooking and electrical fires.

Kitchens are where these fires usually start, followed by lounge rooms, bedrooms, and garages. 
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Preventable house fires in Victoria numbered 1588 cases in 2017 with these sadly causing $42 million in damages. 

​Thermal Imaging as a way to prevent electrical fires
​Thermal imaging is an effective way to prevent fires and the interesting thing about it is that this technology has been successfully used for clients for quite some time now. 

For instance, way back in 2014, the Australian company FLIR provided high-quality thermal imaging cameras to a waste processing facility in Czech Republic which had an incinerator that was burning up to 400,000 tonnes of waste. 


The following is an excerpt from the article which discusses how the FLIR cameras were put up in the Czech waste facility to detect abnormal rises in temperature which could lead to fires:

“The monitored area is divided into zones in which the temperatures are evaluated several times per second. Consequently, the automatic system reports any area with an increased surface temperature to the crane operators.

At the head of the thermal imaging system is control and visualisation software that displays the images and temperatures coming from the FLIR thermal cameras.

The software also provides operator visual and audio alerts whenever the temperature exceeds a certain value.

​Next to the thermal image, the software presents operators with an area map, divided into sectors making it easier for operators to pinpoint the exact location of a hotspot.”
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From the article excerpt above, it is clear that thermal imaging is a proactive method of responding to the issue of electrical fires in Australia. 
With this method, loss of property and especially of lives can be avoided.

Development should still be done with reactive methods to fires, including those of fire extinguishers, fire alarm systems, and smoke detectors because these are needed when fires do happen. 
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But, in order to actually prevent the occurrence of electrical fires, property owners should have well-maintained electrical systems in their properties.

Bushfires and thermal imaging

October 10 of last year, the Montacute Country Fire Service volunteers were able to acquire an advanced-tech truck and a thermal imaging camera as part of the Marshall Liberal Government’s $97.5 million budget for battling bushfires. 

Thermal imaging cameras that total 55 have been given to all CFS volunteers in order to increase their capacity on the ground.

Minister for Emergency Services Vincent Tarzia was quoted as saying that: “The thermal imaging cameras have heat sensors that are capable of detecting tiny differences in temperature, assisting firefighters to pinpoint the location of a fire’s origin and the extent of its spread.” 

Mark Jones - CFS Chief Officer - mentioned that the 2019 bushfires were so rapid and deadly that it resulted in the loss of three lives.

​He strongly added in his statement regarding the utility that thermal imaging cameras can offer to firefighters on the ground: “During bushfires the thermal imaging cameras will be important in identifying hot spots and allowing the crews to prioritize their firefighting and mopping up efforts, but they will also help with many of the other events that the CFS attends over the year.”

Additional contributions of a thermal imaging camera in battling a bushfire include its ability to zone in on problematic spots that are not readily detected by the human eye.

These spots include inflamed plant roots below the ground or burning ashes within bales of hay. In instances of building fires, a thermal imaging camera will allow firefighters to see beyond walls.  

During February 2020 in Victoria, drones and infrared technology have been used by forest and wildlife officers along with the police, in conducting rescue missions for koalas which were victims of bushfires. 

Drones were flown nearby koalas which were on trees in order to closely capture images of them. The pictures captured were then sent to a screen in order to assess if the koala needed further medical attention.

Thermal imaging cameras, on the other hand, were used to get clues about the body temperature of koalas and whether they had burned spots in their bodies.

​The camera also detected the immediate environment to check if there were abnormally high-temperature trunks, branches, roots, and twigs which could spur another series of bushfires. 

The koalas which were detected by drones and thermal imaging cameras to be required medical attention were then brought to a treatment center where their burned body parts were treated by doctors.  

​Thermal Imaging as a way to Prevent Fires in Coal Power Plants

Coal fires are a deadly occurrence because they spread fast and cause massive loss of life and property.

In coal power plants, huge amounts of coal are stocked in open-air containers which leave them open to start oxidizing with oxygen.

True enough, spontaneous combustion is one of the most hazardous and most frequent reasons for coal fire. 

Considering that Australia is one of the biggest exporters of coal and continues to operate 22 coal-burning power stations, several of which belong to the oldest coal facilities in the world, we should definitely take steps to prevent coal fires from occurring. 

Lessons should be taken from the steps taken by Korean coal power plant Korea East-West Power Company (EWP) which installed a fire detection system using thermal imaging cameras, in order to prevent spontaneous combustion in its property.

If oxidization occurs, coal can reach temperatures of 400 degrees celsius at which point it will explode into flames and cause massive damage.

​The thermal imaging cameras used by EWP therefore serve as an early warning detection device, even much better than smoke detectors which would only set off once fire has already started. 

Not only is the coal company able to be protected by thermal imaging but other important stakeholders as well.

​Loss of life of the company employees can be prevented and firefighters can face lesser risks as well because even if a coal fire happens, the fact that thermal imaging cameras were still able to detect it at an early stage would enable the company to evacuate its employees, call up the firefighters, and stop the fire before it became massive.  

​Finally, from an environmental perspective,  air pollution can be curtailed with the use of thermal imaging technology.

​If coal fires were prevented from building up and spreading tons of toxic gases, our natural ecosystem could breathe with more relief.

​If you are a building owner seeking thermal imaging service to evaluate your electrical system, we, at Infrascan, have the technical knowledge of operating advanced thermal imaging equipment. 

We use up-to-date equipment and we have extensive experience in working on large buildings including hospitals, hotels, factories, shopping centres, and government builds. ​