05 SEP 08

Marine Rescue Units Test Thermal Imaging Equipment

By Hoa Nguyen • The Journal News • September 5, 2008

Officers Mauricio Gomez, left, and Larry Miano of the Rye Police Marine Unit look at the thermal imaging system FLIR during a demonstration to various law enforcement agencies. The demonstration was held yesterday at the Shattemuc Yacht Club. (Matthew Brown/The Journal News)

On the thermal imaging screen, Gary Olivier's head bobbing in the water was merely a speck of white floating in a sea of darkness. Blink and the untrained eye might not even notice it. But for marine units who have to rescue people at night, the speck was a welcome sight, a clue they wouldn't necessary have spotted with their naked eye.

"There's our guy right there," said Greg Porteus, head of the Launch 5 crew, which organized a training exercise yesterday for fellow marine rescuers on the Hudson River. "At night, you wouldn't be able to see him."

Launch 5 crew, along with marine units from Rye, Mount Pleasant and other jurisdictions, were testing out thermal imaging equipment that they hope to be able to buy to aid in search-and-rescue missions. The cheapest model from North Billerica, Mass.-based FLIR Systems, which was on scene to showcase the equipment's capability, costs $9,000. From there, the price rises to about $10,000 for a handheld device, $75,000 for a system with more sophisticated capabilities and $250,000 for equipment often found on helicopters, which need long-range imaging capabilities.

The equipment would come in most handy at night when police are looking for evidence of a warm body, either to rescue a person from the water or track a criminal's movements through dark woods, officers said.

"The little hand-held ones, we would be able to utilize it on land and on water," said Rye Police Officer Julio Rossi, who heads the town's marine unit.

As part of the exercise, Olivier, a Launch 5 crew member, jumped into the Hudson River from a boat and floated on the water for several minutes before Andrew Cox, a national sales representative, and Tom Milanette, a sales manager from FLIR, were able to spot him on the thermal imaging system. Although they took longer than the people on the boat who helped Cox and Milanette point the equipment in the right direction, Porteus said thermal imaging trumps the naked eye when it is dark outside and not much is visible.

"Remember, we're trying to simulate pitch-black," he said. "You'd never find him. You couldn't see him at all."

In July, when rescuers were frantically looking for a boat that was returning to Verplanck when it ran aground about two miles north of Bear Mountain Bridge, capsized and trapped passengers under the hull, the dark conditions made it difficult to find the vessel. Twenty-five-year-old Mahopac resident Steven Vasta died from injuries suffered in that accident. Having thermal imaging equipment aboard might have helped locate the vessel earlier, Porteus said.

In fact, the thermal imaging works best at locating vessels, he said.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, we're looking for a vessel," Porteus said. "We would pick that up immediately."

Reach Hoa Nguyen at hnguyen7@lohud.com or 914-696-8570

For more information about Launch 5 go to www.launch5.com or www.ratlines.com

www.ratlines.com Revised: 09/30/08

View our privacy statement.