MADEIRA -- Jenny Greenert talks like a firefighter about "hot spots," thermal imaging and how to "smoke the basement."
She also knows more than most 16-year-olds about the art of collecting money for a cause.
Jenny's cause: Buying an infrared camera that helps firefighters locate people and heat sources inside smoky buildings.
She did it, gathering $16,500 in less than a year, enough to buy a Vision Thermal-Imaging System camera and accessories for firefighters at the Madeira - Indian Hill Joint Fire District.
"This was a tremendous undertaking by this young lady," Fire Chief Robert Coy said. "It sort of renews your faith in the younger generation. She was a busy girl."
Jenny and the camera will star during a dedication ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 13 at the Indian Hill fire station. Firefighters will give a camera demonstration.
"They'll smoke the basement," Jenny said. She's seen the demonstration, when firefighters located soda-pop cans filled with warm water hidden around the deliberately smoke-filled basement at the fire station.
"I used (the camera) for a couple minutes -- it was neat," she said.
The camera "can see the hottest object in a room," such as a frightened child hiding under a bed, and it helps firefighters "find the "hot spot' where the fire has started," Jenny said.
Her fund-raising plan consisted of about 50 glass jars left on counters in Madeira businesses with Jenny's note explaining how the camera would help firefighters. She also contacted groups and business people, and she and her family worked in concession booths at the Taste of Blue Ash festival, turning over their wages -- about $4,000 -- to the fund.
She adopted the project to earn community service hours for school. Students at Madeira Junior - Senior High School, where Jenny will be an 11th-grader, must devote at least 40 hours to helping others before graduating. Jenny figures the project took 850 hours from the April 1, 1997, start to when the order was placed Feb. 17. Jenny, the daughter of Sally and Ron Greenert of Madeira, originally thought the camera would cost more than $25,000. But after testing different systems, firefighters decided they preferred a less expensive, hand-held system.
"It was something on our "wish list,' " said Chief Coy. "But due to the exorbitant price tag on something like that, it's hard to justify when you have other types of equipment to buy."
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