OG&E Fights Fires with Infrared:

OG&E Electric services more than 735,000 customers in Oklahoma and Western Arkansas, and generates about 70-percent of its electricity from low-sulfur Wyoming coal. Routine thermal scans examine rotating and electrical equipment in the plant for heat anomalies and changing temperatures. But OG&E also uses their camera for an unusual application: firefighting.
When coal sits in a silo for prolonged periods of time, it can spontaneously combust. By the time a fire is discovered it is very difficult to get down into the silo to extinguish the blaze. Even with a pyrotechnical expert, finding the exact location of the fire within a silo can be challenging. When a thermographer took thermal images of the silo, the staff was able to direct the extinguishing agent to the exact location of the fire. This approach was safer and more effective than old firefighting methods, and saved valuable time and energy.
Coal silo fires are a fact of life for companies like OG&E. Thankfully, thermography is a dependable, cost-effective firefighting tool. Armed with state of the art imaging technology, staff can gather all of the information before choosing their method of attack and extinguishing the blaze.

Courtesy of Mack Hoover, OG&E Electric Services, in Inframation 2005 Proceedings