Local volunteer firefighters add technology to their fire gear
OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Have you ever wondered what it’s like to see emergency situations through the eyes of a firefighter?
Oktibbeha County Volunteer Firefighters are adding a new piece of equipment to their gear that they believe will make a significant impact on the community while also showing others what they see on a daily basis.
Volunteer firefighters are some of the first on the scene with fires, wrecks, medical emergencies, and more.
What they see can be hard to describe. So, Oktibbeha County Volunteers are using technology to their advantage.
They are capturing what they see through a camera lens using their fire-cam and GoPro.
Oktibbeha County Fire Coordinator Patrick Warner explains how they are using these cameras to protect themselves as they protect the community.
“We use these cameras for liability purposes. So that way, if we were in an altercation, it can show our side,” Warner. “We also use these cameras for evidence purposes. You know, we might go to a crime scene and there might be some evidence in there that, you know, when we drag a hose into the fire, we might disturb the evidence. But if you get that on camera before we disturb it and start spraying water, we can use that for evidence and documentation purposes.”
The cameras can also link to a system to show others in the department a live stream of the situation to help better prepare them before they arrive on the scene.
Warner said they are also a useful safety net when responding to disputes.
“The individual we go to respond to, they see the camera on us and they’re less likely to do something bad or act up because the individuals don’t want to do anything because they know they’re on camera,” Warner said.
Along with safety, evidence, documentation, and liability uses, they use these cameras to teach and train the next generation of firefighters.
“We’ll take the footage, we’ll go back and we’ll critique ourselves. Where can we get better? Where can we improve what we did well, and what we did not do well,” Warner said.
Warner said this technology gives the public an idea of the different types of situations they deal with day to day.
“Technology is improving and it’s best to use it and you use it to your advantage. And that’s what we’re trying to do here too. We want to take the technology we have and we want to use it the best we can to improve and better ourselves,” Warner said.
The cameras belong to the individual firefighters, and they plan to keep using them while serving the community.
