While most 12-year-olds are preoccupied by the latest in Nintendo games and that first kiss, one Ames boy has more important matters on the brain.

Andrew Hefflefinger, a sixth-grader at Kate Mitchell School with a sweet smile and firm handshake, is crusading to save lives.

He and his friends are trying to raise money to help the Ames Fire Department purchase two new pieces of fire-fighting equipment called thermal imaging cameras.

The cameras, which have been on the market about a year, are technological advances that eliminate one of the most dire problems facing firefighters: seeing through black smoke. The cameras use infrared sensors to differentiate between hot and cold objects, said Ames Fire Chief Michael Childs.

This enables firefighters to identify the “hot spots” in fires and nail down the source of the blaze more quickly, saving property.

“The beauty of this equipment for firefighters is, where before we had no vision — we literally couldn’t see our hand in front of our face — we can now see victims who might be trapped, or a patch of floor that might have burned through, or where a staircase is,” Childs said. “It gives firefighters their sense of sight back, which we’ve never had before.”

The only drawback to these miracles of technology is the price tag. They cost $18,000 each. “Every fire department in the country is clamoring to get their hands on this equipment,” Childs said.

Childs said he thought it would take up to four or five years to get enough money together to buy a camera, let alone the two that he would like (one for each station in town).

That’s where Andrew came in. He got the idea for the fund-raiser about a year ago after seeing a television program about the cameras. The show pointed out that three little girls were killed in a fire because they were scared and hiding from firefighters, who couldn’t find them amid all of the smoke.

“I found the information out from ‘Dateline,’ and I started thinking that this would be a good idea for the Ames Fire Department,” Andrew said.

Andrew knew that enlisting the help of other people was important to get things started, so he wrote a few letters. And he wasn’t shy about heading straight to the top.

“I decided to get back-up from big people, like the mayor, fire chief and president of the PTA,” he said.

Once he found out that money was what was keeping the fire department from buying the cameras, Andrew took matters into his own hands.

He got help from friends and classmates to make and distribute 200 donation canisters to the Iowa State campus and area businesses. The sixth-graders also recorded an announcement for the radio at KASI-AM 1430.

After meetings with various Ames big-wigs, the community finally kicked off the fund-raiser about a week ago, after almost a year of preparation.

“I would’ve lost patience,” said Patty Hefflefinger, Andrew’s mom.

But Andrew hasn’t. The campaign’s slogan is: “Bank a Buck, Save a Life.” Officials are hoping for each person in Ames to donate a dollar to the cause.

“We didn’t want to ask too much, but we didn’t want to ask too little, so we decided to ask for a dollar,” Andrew said. “We figured most people could afford that.”

Childs said campaign officials have already raised about $4,000.

To raise the rest of the money, Childs is planning to contact local organizations like the Rotary Club, Lions Club, churches, fraternities and sororities, to encourage people to donate.

The campaign is also directed toward Iowa State students. Childs pointed to last semester’s blaze at the Theta Chi Fraternity house as a donation motivator for students.

Donations can be sent to the Thermal Imaging Camera Fund, Fire Station #1, 1300 Burnett Ave.; Ames, IA 50010.