The technology advancement is changing at rapid pace and so is the drones. In fact, the drones have became more and more useful in multiple industries, such as law enforcement, agricultural and of course in the business world. It is a no exception that the drones have huge benefits for the first responders. In life and death situations, saving the people is a high priority and time is a scarcity. Fortunately, there are several ways drones can be used for the first responders.
Where the access points are blocked, impassable or hard to reach. The drones provides first responders an incredible tool set: aerial view that allows them to develop strategic plan and locating the targets quickly. The recent introduction of drones paved the path to help improve the first responders’ performance and their capabilities to serve the public better. In my article, I have listed 6 ways drones can be used for the first responders. If you want to know what are the 6 ways they can be used for, read more to find out.
Assessing Natural Disasters
Hurricanes, wildfires, flash floods and earthquake all have major impact on the people. They can wreck havoc and cause thousands, or worse, millions of people to lose their home. The natural disasters can cause million dollars worth of property loss value. This is where the drones can play a major role in assessing the damage caused by natural disasters. First responders will be able to gain an aerial overview of the affected area and located stranded people so that the rescuers can retrieve them.
Because of the drones’ aerial capabilities, the first responders can see where stranded people are and scan the life-threatening areas that should be avoided at all the cost. As of a result, this lets the first responders plan ahead and more quickly. At the same time, minimizing the risks that first responders have to face with prior knowledge. While Federal Aviation Administration explicitly stated that the natural disasters is a no fly-zone, flying the drones is limited to first responders and drone pilots who has been exempted through emergency response approval.
Speeds Up Search Efforts
In the field of law enforcement, missing children and animals can be quite a cumbersome task to find them. Especially when the search effort is being done on the ground. Imagine that you have to search for the missing child on the ground. Which means, you have to check every corner and watch where you are going. This takes up more time and only covers a small portion of the search rescue efforts. Whereas the drones can easily scan the area within few minutes compared to hours and hours of searching spent on ground.
For the search efforts, I recommend either Phantom 4 Pro or Inspire 2 drone. Both are incredible powerful quadcopters equipped with high quality camera that can capture every minor details on ultra high-definition resolution. First responders have used drones successful for search efforts. A couple of search efforts turned into success stories you can find here and here. Thanks to the drones’ aerial capabilities, the first responders was able to rescue them.
Delivers Live-Saving Medic Kits
The drones aren’t just being used to help find the missing people or to assess the damage. They are also being used to help make life-saving changes in poor countries such as Rwanda, Kenya and other parts in the Third World. The drones are equipped with drop module that releases medic kits when they reach the destination point. That is exactly what Zipline is doing and they are transforming how doctors and nurses in Africa treats their patients.
The delivery of drones via air is much more effective in these regions where the infrastructure is too poor to support transportation of medic kits via roads. Because the hospitals in these regions that gets medic kits from the drones, they can focus on treating the patients to prevent disease outbreak and save life. This is truly a great invention and an amazing innovative way to help reduce the morality rate in these affected countries. As of current, Zipline is always looking for more people who are experienced with mechanical engineering, electric engineering and of course certified drone pilots.
Save People Who Are Drowning
If the drones is that good at saving people, then it has to be saving the people who are drowning. Every year, around 3,500 people drown unintentionally from non-boat incidents. This can be especially tough for lifeguards if the person is too far and is drowning. Instead, using the drone armed with flotation device that can save the person and give them something to hold on until the first responders arrives to the scene. To draw comparisons how the drones are useful in saving the people from drowning.
For a lifeguard to save the person, they must swim quickly as they can. This cause too much energy to go to waste and put a lot of pressure on the lifeguard. Also, drowning is a matter of life and death situation which can put lifeguards at disadvantage since time is a factor. The drones can easily fly over the water and drop device just in few seconds. Then the person just hold on to it. While the drones of course can’t bring the people back to the shore. They are incredible effective at shifting the tide of life and death situations into lifeguards’ favor.
Resolving Traffic Jams Quickly
Everyone hates traffic jams, trust me. They are the single most biggest time waster because there is nothing else you can do beside trying to get out of the jam so that you can do what you want to. First responders can use the advantage that intelligent drones has to offer such as Phantom 4 Pro, Mavic 2 or Inspire 2 by turning them in an advanced and automated tool to analyze the traffic jam. They will be able to gather data and resolve the traffic jam remotely without having to be there.
This allows the first responders to handle the situation more effectively than doing the guesswork because the data is already there. As of a result, the drones will help resolve the traffic jams more quickly. In fact, some cities have already implemented the use of drones to combat against traffic jams during the rush hours. Annapolis is a leading example that uses the drones to resolve the traffic jam as well accidents and homicide investigations.
Provide Support in Firefighting
Another major advantage that the drones have in the store for first responders is providing support for firefighting. You won’t find any drones like that in the DJI Store. However, drones have increasingly become useful tool set for the firefighters. They are stable, incredible powerful and can spray strong guzzle of water from the sky. Plus its high mobility makes it very easy for firefighter to contain the wildfire. Whereas helicopters and airplanes only can carry a limit capacity of resources to fight and must refuel after each passing.
The drones offers firefighters a new tool to get closer to the wildfire and clear them off with any resources like sand, water or materials to contain the fire. Not only it helps the first responders control the fire more easily. It can be mounted with a camera that allows them to gather aerial intelligence. The data then can be used to analyze and develop plans to better control the fire. While the drones use in wildfire is heavily restricted. More and more first responders are seeing the use of it as they are becoming widely available.
Drones Uses for First Responders
The drones brings a lot of benefits for the first responders. Most importantly is their performance to perform the jobs better and more effectively. As the technology changes, the drones are getting smarter, easier and advanced. So does their benefits that they brings to the table. The aerial intelligence and data that the drones provides is an important tool set for the first responders. Without the drones, the first responders won’t be able to have access to readily available information.
Over to you now. What do you think of first responders using the drones? In my opinion, I think the drones are great and that the first responders definitely should use them. They are a nice addition and very flexible enough to fit any kind of roles. But if they want to have an unique drone custom made by a company like the firefighting drone. It can be quite an expensive price to pay.
Regardless, I hope you find my article about 6 ways drones can be used for the first responders insightful and interesting. If you know any ways that the drones can benefit them. Feel free to drop a comment below. We will get back to you as soon as possible. Looking forward to starting a conversation with you. Happy flying!
