August 4, 2017 at 4:35 p.m.
Newbold Fire and Rescue takes public safety to new heights
Drone assists in investigations
Newbold Fire and Rescue takes public safety to new heights
By By Abbey McEnroe-
The drone, a DJI Inspire, is outfitted with a video camera that broadcasts live images back to the controller and a thermal energy camera that broadcasts live images back to a second monitor.
Fire chief Mark Fetzer said the equipped drone cost around $9,000.
However, the entire cost was covered through donations.
Fetzer said the main use of the drone is for search and rescue in the case of a missing person but it can be used for fires as well.
"It helps with helping to locate someone who's missing," Fetzer explained. "We have a search and rescue team that we started a few years back before we had the drone. We were involving search dogs and also training for people just learning certain methods and how best to work at finding people and this seemed like a useful addition to that so we could help from above and depending on how tree coverage is and stuff it can be very quick to find someone."
As of now, there are four people in the department who are certified to fly the drone.
Fetzer said the drone offers the department an important change in perspective.
"It's useful for us to be able to know what we're dealing with from the air," Fetzer stated. "It's a whole new perspective and what is sometimes called situational awareness, you kind of know what is around and what's going on."
So far, the drone has been on scene about 12 times and deployed about six. Although the department has had the drone for two years it took awhile for to become operational.
One of the most recent situations in which the drone was deployed was when a 70-year-old woman got lost after kayaking with her husband on the Deerskin River. The woman was found about five hours later with the help of the drone.
"It was a little different than we expected," Fetzer explained of the lost woman search. "She was a little bit beyond the range of where thermal camera could communicate back to the base ... so we didn't have a good picture but it was a quiet night and the lost person saw the drone above them and started hollering and making noise and the people were able to hear her so they positioned the drone where they thought was above the noise and the rescuers were able to look at the sky and see where the drone was and followed that to find the person."
Overall, Fetzer said the drone has been and will continue to be a useful piece of technology for Newbold Fire and Rescue Department.
"It's a handy tool, it's useful, it's nice to be able to use the technology to give us a different view of things," Fetzer concluded.
Abbey McEnroe may be reached via email at [email protected]
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