N.J. department secures grant for thermal imaging cameras

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Jersey Journal

NORTH HUDSON, N.J. — Fourteen months after a North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue hero died while searching for victims in a burning building, the department has been awarded a grant for equipment that might have saved his life that day.

NHRFR Chief Brion McEldowney said he hopes to use a $144,000 Department of Homeland Security grant to buy at least 18 new thermal imaging cameras — one for each company in the NHRFR. He said he's not sure how quickly the cameras can be acquired.

The cameras are used to detect fires behind walls and ceilings and help firefighters detect body heat from injured victims, even through heavy smoke.

"Obviously, having these cameras are critical for the first units arriving at a fire," said NHRFR Co-director Jeff Welz. "We are ecstatic that the federal government recognizes that we can better serve the public and protect our firefighters."

McEldowney said the department has some earlier models of the camera, but they are fast becoming obsolete, replaced with lighter, easier-to-use models.

Vincent Neglia succumbed to third-degree burns and smoke inhalation fighting a Bergenline Avenue blaze last September. The fire spread into the gap between the building's top-floor ceiling and roof and an explosion engulfed Neglia in flames from the ceiling above him, investigators said at the time.

Neglia, 45, had raced into the three-story building after firefighters were erroneously told that people were trapped on the second floor, reports said.

McEldowney called the cameras the "single most important thing to protect firefighters," next to their personal safety equipment.

The grants are awarded competitively each year through the DHS's Assistance to Firefighter Grants Program. A previous award was used to buy breathing equipment, McEldowney noted. 

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