Thank you Enterprise!!!

Voluntary Donation Program benefits Fire Department

The initiative to purchase the cameras began with a request from the Enterprise Home Builders Association to the Enterprise City Council in the fall of 1998. They asked the council to add a voluntary $2 donation to the water bills for a period of one year. The program was so successful; however, the donation goal was met in two months.

Thanks to the generosity of The City Council funds were made available though the Fire Departments budget for the purchase of the first Thermal Imaging Camera and along with the donations from the Enterprise residents and by donations by the Enterprise Home Builders Association, the E. L. Gibson Foundation and other area businesses the program was funded with enough money to purchase a second and third camera. This allowed for each lead Fire Engine at each station to have a Thermal Imaging Camera for use at all emergency calls.

Donnell Woodall, co-chairman of the fund-raiser of the EHBA said he was very pleased with the success of the program. “We want to thank all of those who participated by donating to this program,” he said. “We are glad we were able to help the fire department acquire the cameras and we know they will be put to good use.”

The cameras allow the Firefighters to maneuver in a fire by giving them the ability to see through the darkness and smoke.

According to Fire Chief Byron Herring, the cameras have been very useful. “We fought a large fire at Sessions Peanut Company.” He said. “The cameras were very helpful in showing us exactly where the fire was hottest and where it was spreading.”

“Being able to see those things allowed the fire department to better concentrate their efforts in working the fire and also helped with the safety issues.”

Herring added the cameras have also been useful tools in several home fires. “We recently responded to a call of a house fire,” Herring said. “When we arrived there was smoke coming from every window, which is usually the case in a fire. Upon arriving on the scene we immediately utilized the camera. We walked around the outside of the house and found the room that was the hottest. We went into the house and directly to the room and found the source of the fire was a space heater. In this instance, we were able to spare a lot of the associated fire damage by being able to locate the source so quickly”

Chief Herring also added, “Upon arriving at the scene of one house fire we were met by neighbors and bystanders stating the resident was still inside. Using the Thermal Imaging Cameras the resident was found and removed from the house through a window. The resident was immediately put on oxygen and transported to the hospital where Hospital Staff stabilized him and transferred him the a Burn Center.” Doctors stated they felt had we been thirty seconds later in finding the resident he would not live to leave the hospital.