Battalion Chief Tom Curcio explained, “They're going to want to know if the front door was intact when the fire started, what color and intensity the flames are, our initial deployment technique,” among other details.

The pictures and video can also be sent to news agencies.

Anyone can get the camera at a local electronics store for a few hundred dollars, and its integration into the New London fire department's procedures may seem like blatant common sense. However, some other fire departments consist mostly of volunteers. Not New London's – they're fully paid and staffed. The camera goes with them almost everywhere, and the pictures will certainly be taken if time and staffing allow, Curcio said.

A mission is being initiated to access all the local businesses to document known hazards, like loose stairs, so that if a fire occurs there the men can be forewarned.

“It identifies the hazard immediately,” Rocco Basilica, a New London firefighter, said.

The camera can record conditions at scenes as they unfold, producing a flawless report for the fire marshal that chronologically depicts the second-by-second events. Although 35mm cameras will not be made obsolete, their film can take days to receive, from filling up a roll to retrieving and purchasing the developed photographs.

The new camera is useful for presentations and classes. The pictures can be downloaded into PowerPoint or plugged into a television for better viewing. The visual record is valuable for debriefing.

“(Curcio) as a chief can come to me as a firefighter and say, 'This is what we could have done differently,'” Basilica said. “We can see it instantaneously.”

If another group wishes to precisely repeat the set-up of drills and exercises, they would have actual pictures for a reference. The footage and stills can also be used in training exercises for their own firefighters.

“Our job is to go home the same way we came in and protect people's lives, so any tools we can get we're going to use to our advantage,” Basilica said.