Drones on the Job: A Firefighter?

Written by Andre Louis-Ferdinand

First off, I want to thank all of our readers for their patience over the past week. There was an unexpected family death that I had to leave town for. I really appreciate the warm messages of understanding. Everything should be posted as scheduled from now on.

Secondly, I want to talk about a drone application with amazing potential to save property, forestry, and lives. Two days ago, a coalition of public safety officers and UAV industry partners announced the formation of the Drone Advocates for Public Safety (DAPS), which will focus on training first responders in using drones to support their operations. Taking notice of several other successful drone use cases in various life threatening scenarios, DAPS will further help officers understand the possibilities for how drones can be used in emergencies.

Drones Start Assisting Fire Fighters in Virginia

“The UAV is a game changer for Incident Commanders. In a matter of minutes we can get a full view of an incident from the air allowing us to deploy resources quicker and make decisions based off what we see from a live feed,” said fire chief Jerry Streich, a founding board member of DAPS. This group will bring professionals together to share ideas and experience to form best practices on the use of UAVs for their industry.

“We are constantly inspired by the public safety workers who put their lives on the line to help rescue others,” said Brendan Schulman, VP of Policy and Legal Affairs at DJI and founding board member of DAPS. “The potential of new technology to help first responders is exciting and we are thrilled to support DAPS as it reaches out to the broader safety community to reduce the time needed to get crucial aerial information in situations where seconds count.”