SAYREVILLE — Firefighters saved a semi-conscious woman from her burning home last week after an infrared camera helped to identify her figure through dense smoke.
On Feb. 25, the Sayreville Fire Department was dispatched to a structure fire on Lambertson Court in the Colony Club development off Jernee Mill Road. A neighbor, who heard smoke detectors sounding and smelled a faint odor of smoke, reported the fire around 4:15 p.m.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, there was no visible fire, according to Lt. Curtis Clark of Sayreville Engine Company No. 1.
The first crew on the scene, who arrived less than two minutes after the fire was reported, included driver William Brugnoli and firefighters Brian Bielak, Craig Connors, Ron Connors III, John Dragota and Vinnie Waranowicz. The group searched the house for an entryway. Upon realizing that the house was completely locked, the firefighters were ordered to break down the front door, Clark said. Smoke gushed out from the doorway.
“Smoke just poured out of the building, and at that point we just knew we had a major problem,” Clark said.
The firefighters entered into a “dense black smoke” and had to use a thermal imaging camera to guide their way, according to Fire Chief John Dunne. The infrared camera uses temperature differences to distinguish and locate objects that would not be visible otherwise. Clark noted that many people do not realize that a fire scene can be “completely dark.”
“You can’t see 2 feet in front of you,” he said.
The camera, which was donated by the widow of a former Sayreville fireman, senses different temperatures in a fire. If the house is at 700 degrees because of the fire and a body is at 100 degrees, the camera helps to locate that person.
The Sayreville firefighters climbed to the second floor of the Lambertson Court home and entered the room that was the source of the fire. Upon scanning the room with the camera, the crew spotted the figure of a woman lying in bed.
The firefighters tried yelling to get the woman’s attention, and upon realizing she was only semi-conscious, carried her out of the house using the camera as a guide, according to fire department officials.
The Sayreville Emergency Squad transported the woman to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where she was treated for second-degree burns on one leg and smoke inhalation.
In most cases, Clark said, people will die from inhaling the toxic gases as opposed to the fire itself. However, the amount of smoke this woman inhaled was limited due to firefighters’ quick response, he said.
Once the woman was removed from the home, the firefighters extinguished the blaze. Bielak said it appeared as though a pile of clothes on the floor had caught fire. The fire itself was relatively small, he said, but the smoke was dense because of combustibles in the house.
Sayreville’s fire and police departments and emergency squad all responded to the scene.
“Everybody did a great job,” Dunne said. “It’s an example of the training we do to keep ourselves ready for situations like that.”
“I’m very proud of my firemen.”