We're used to seeing them in squad cars, but now the Eau Claire Fire Department is using dash cams to record major fires so it can train firefighters better.

Not very many fire departments even have dash cams, and this set-up has a few shortcomings. But firefighters say they're glad to have as many training tools as possible, because they often have to make life and death decisions in seconds.

As the sirens sounded and smoke filled the neighborhood the camera was already rolling when the command vehicle pulled up.

"Most of the fire calls that we go on, we will turn it on and if we have the ability to get close enough to the scene, we'll run the camera," says Battalion Chief Duane Grunst.

The dash cam captured video at Saturday’s house fire on the west side of Eau Claire. The simple video camera is mounted to the command vehicle's dash, and while it recorded the massive flames with no problem this time, it isn't always easy to capture firefighters in action.

"My vehicle's not a high-priority when it comes to putting out a fire, so I kind of take second pickings and let the engines take the spots that they need," Grunst says.

Grunst says the dash camera has other limitations.

"Night time- very ineffective, so there's times it's not even turned on," he says.

When the video does turn out, the fire department uses the footage for training, because when they're in the heat of the moment, disappearing in the smoke, there's no time for review. That's where the tapes come in.

"What could we do differently next time to improve our response for the next call," Grunst says.

Money for the camera and equipment comes out of the regular fire department budget.
Right now, the department only has the one camera and it's not planning on adding more, because Grunst says the people who could run those cameras are busy on scene fighting fires.