VIDEO: The Tucson Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team is training more firefighters to use drones during high-risk rescues.
The drones can deliver life-saving items like water or life jackets, also known as personal flotation devices, without putting first responders in danger.
The drones are particularly useful when people are in hard-to-reach areas in the desert, during a hiker rescue, or surrounded by fast-moving water.
“We just attach it directly to the personal flotation device, and when we fly it to the victim, they grab that. It releases,” said Jamie Sieminski, TFD special operations coordinator. Sieminski is training six firefighters on how to operate the drones so they can be used whenever needed.
“The first and foremost, most stressful thing is to get a PFD out to somebody while we’re still trying to formulate a plan on how to get out and rescue them,” Sieminski said. “So, this kind of mitigates that, and it frees up crews to focus on the next step, which is how are we going to get out to them to save them.”
The drones can reach areas that ropes cannot.
“There are places that we can’t reach with ropes, and the payload capability of the new drones can actually pick up a flotation device and deliver it to the victim out in the middle of a wash,” Sieminski said.
