The new drones would allow the department to remotely dispatch them to the scene of a fire as their trucks are enroute. Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson says this would allow the department to gather information about the fire before arriving.
"The amount of additional information that this gives the responding officers, will give the responding companies, is just unfathomable."
Jenkerson says being able to obtain this information before they arrive at the scene is critical to a timely response.
"Before they get to the scene, they already know, do we have a fire? What side is the fire showing on? Do we have any issues around the building?"
According to Jenkerson this could allow them to know what side of the building they need to attack the fire from or raise the alarm before even getting to the blaze.
The Department already utilizes drones, but they are not as technical as the newer ones. Jenkerson says not only can a captain enroute to a fire view what the drone is seeing, he can as well from anywhere on his phone. He says they can utilize the footage for after action assessments.
The drones are not cheap, with Jenkerson estimating they cost between $35,000-50,000 each. That's not including the weather proof storage they'd need on top of the fire houses, along with the software they use.
Jenkerson says right now they have four drones, stationed at two fire houses. He believes they would need nine to effectively cover the city.
