Andrew Dyl, assistant fire marshal with Cheyenne Fire Rescue, has stared at a whiteboard plenty of times, either recalling a floor plan in the wake of a structure fire or trying to draw it himself to communicate with his team about how a fire rescue went down.
Now new drone technology at his department is making those manual drawings fewer and farther between. The department’s drones are outfitted with 360-degree cameras — similar to cameras Realtors use to offer virtual home tours.
The cameras can provide virtual tours of structures or land damaged by fire, to aid in fire investigations and show insurance companies what the actual fire damage looks like.
That’s only scratching the surface of what firefighting drones are evoloving into. They’re being used to remotely spray water, drop fire retardant and recon areas for hot spots with infrared imagery. Drone technology plays “a big role in everything we’re doing,” said Dyl.
It’s a growing trend — perhaps even a necessity — as fire departments continue to seek ways to respond to emergency situations faster and collect as much accurate information as possible in fire investigations.
Doing that in ways that protect the safety of firefighters is a priority. Aspen, Colorado, will begin dispatching high-tech drones to fight wildland fires this summer after the city signed a contract with a California start-up company called Seneca, for an undisclosed amount of money.
Wyoming fire departments are well aware of the growing capabilities of drone technology to aid in fire emergencies and are excited at future prospects. “I’ve been looking into it for our department, for sure,” said George Neeson, division chief of Community Risk Reduction for the Sheridan Fire Rescue. “In the future, (drone technology) will make it safer for our firefighters to respond.”
