How Are Drones Being Used by Fire Departments?

Unparalleled Access

Drones give firefighters unparalleled access compared to traditional earthbound firefighting operations. Terrestrial firefighting vehicles lack the same access that drones do, especially when operating out in the wild with inaccessible terrain, thick vegetation, and inadequate road infrastructure, or in densely populated urban areas full of high rises and other physical obstacles. A drone’s ability to fly high up in the sky allows firefighters to fly over inaccessible natural terrain and tall buildings to gather aerial intelligence.

Risk Assessment

Drones can reach much higher elevations compared to traditional fire trucks equipped with aerial ladders. Depending on FAA regulations, drones are allowed to fly up to 400 feet in the air. Compare this to ladder trucks which can only reach up to 100 feet. Drones also take much less time to deploy. This allows fire departments to survey the fireground quickly and accurately from the air and to assess potential risks and dangers. This gives commanding officers unparalleled situational awareness and aerial intelligence, allowing them to deploy firefighters and coordinate rescue efforts safely and efficiently.

Thermal Imaging

Between thick clouds of smoke billowing from the fireground and physical obstructions like buildings and tall trees in the environment, visibility is always a challenge for firefighters on the ground. Thankfully, drones outfitted with high-definition infrared (IR) cameras give firefighters thermal imaging capabilities to see what the naked eye could not. This enables them to monitor hotspots, identify deployed personnel, and locate people trapped inside structures despite the lack of visibility.

Remote Monitoring & Coordination

Drones allow firefighters to relay high-definition video intelligence of the fireground back to central command in real time. This facilitates improved coordination with other disaster response agencies and first responders on scene. The footage and data gathered during emergency response incidents can also be used as evidence, for after-action analysis, and incorporated into future training materials.

Emergency Deliveries

In certain emergency situations, victims may be trapped within a burning building or other remote, unsafe, and otherwise inaccessible locations. Often, these victims may require time-sensitive emergency care and cannot wait until firefighters and other first responders have contained the fire and create a path to them. Fortunately, fire departments can use drones to deliver emergency supplies and equipment such as Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to these victims while firefighting and rescue efforts are underway.

Why Are Drones Useful for Fire Departments?

Higher Reach

Drones can reach much higher elevations compared to conventional fire trucks equipped with aerial ladders.

Rapid Aerial Surveillance

Drones allow fire departments to begin surveying the fireground within moments of arriving on scene, and to do so much more comprehensively from the air.

Accessibility

Drones allow firefighters to monitor fires in inaccessible terrains or other hard-to-reach locations.

Search & Rescue

Drones can be equipped with thermal imaging cameras to help identify hotspots, victims, and rescue crews otherwise invisible to the human eye when the fireground is engulfed in smoke. They can also be outfitted with floodlights to aid in nighttime rescue operations.

Cost Savings

As drones provide fire departments significant technical and safety benefits, they also provide notable cost savings compared to other methods. Deploying fire trucks and personnel may be costly, and drones help to offset part of that cost when fighting emergency fires.

Damage Assessment

Drones are helpful in surveying the fireground during and after a fire to assess damage, record the spread of the fire, and help locate missing persons. In addition to being valuable evidence, information recorded by the drones during firefighting operations can also be used to create training materials.

Arunachal Pradesh is a geographically diverse state with a majority of its population residing in rural areas, some of which are remote or hard to access. Thus, at a time, they deprived of essential services. Drone technology can be used to substantially impact public delivery and governance, improving vital indicators across all fields.

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY:

State Remote Sensing Application Centre (SRSAC), an autonomous body under Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh shall be the nodal agency for implementation of drone technology and providing related drone services in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, as the Centre is already a notified agency for Remote Sensing and Space technology, etc. The SRSAC shall see the implementation of the said policy and also develop platform for building skilled manpower for overall growth and development of the State by providing necessary infrastructure for the growth of Drone ecosystem in the State. The SRSAC shall also from time to time evaluate the policy and may update the policy as required. For promotion of Drone Technology and its allied services in the state, SRSAC shall develop a Centre of Excellence for Drone technology.

INITIATIVES:

SRSAC Drone Training Institute through State Drone Excellence Centre: While there are a wide range of potential applications, the focus areas for the government are agriculture, energy, Land Management, Forestry, municipal administration, mining, irrigation and public safety. The Government shall set up a State Drone Excellence Centre and a Drone Institute that will help government departments in procuring services from drone service providers in the following ways:

• Empanel vendors so that each department will not have to go through the RFP process
• Identify use cases or services relevant to the departments
• Enter in to framework agreements with vendors on prices, SLAs
• Undertake capacity building programs for government officials Arunachal Pradesh government understands that since the drone industry in India is ready to take off, there will be a huge talent demand. The skill development needs to be developed through intensive training programs, developing educational curriculum and investing in research.

The government plans to:

• Collaborate with Atal Innovation Mission to impart drone knowledge and skills to school students. Introduce drone technology modules and provide firsthand experience to the school students and support ATL initiative with teacher training sessions.
• Engage with TASK and introduce drone training modules in technical institutes to focus on skill sets required to make graduate students industry-ready. The modules will be created in collaboration with the industry and as per the DGCA guidelines. It will cover pre-flight, in-flight and post flight modules. Also, collaborate with government institutes to provide facility for practical training of students.
• Encourage the development of specific domain-led programs for specific requirements like aerial photography, surveillance, remote sensing etc. These domain-led programs will help develop a freelancing ecosystem. Government will provide incentives to the drone academies to create these specific modules.
• Collaborate with leading technological universities to create specialized courses on drone engineering so that the drone manufacturers can scout drone design engineers directly from colleges.
•  Fund drone engineering research in leading technical universities through a public-private partnership model.

In September 2021, after intergovernmental collaboration and detailed policy revisions, the 45-day trial of Medicine from the Sky finally took shape.

The Medicine from the Sky programme in India was commissioned at the India Economic Summit in 2019 under the chairmanship of K. T. Rama Rao, Telangana’s Minister for Information Technology, Industries & Commerce, and Municipal Administration & Urban Development (MA&UD), and Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary to Telangana Government, Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) and Industries & Commerce (I&C). The programme was aimed at using drone technology to extend urban-grade healthcare to the remotest areas and ensure that “nobody is left behind”. Since a number of stakeholders had a secondary view of the technology and only a limited perception of its benefits, one of the goals was to measure programming and confidence-building in the ecosystem.

The focus was on three fronts:

1.Technology – Overall maturity of the technology and its capacity to withstand the conditions of the last mile, especially in remote areas.

2.Policy – Alignment with policy-makers in articulating the case that drones can be operated safely and securely for social impact.

3.Community – Alignment with members of the community, especially beneficiaries (rural citizens), consumers (healthcare workers), implementers, experts and decision-makers, when strategizing for a seamless drone delivery programme.

We are extremely proud to be marking CASCA E-CONNECT’s 8th anniversary! Today, CASCA E-CONNECT PVT. LTD. has officially completed 8 years of its activity.
When CASCA was founded back in 2013, we were a small team in a challenging business environment, but with a well-defined vision, confident and eager to grow. After 8 years of hard work, we remained just as ambitious as we started, however we gained more experience, strengthened our skills and our collaborations.
8th September 2021 will hold an important day as we are officially introducing our first prototype RPAS(Drone/UAS) GoDrona “EKLAVYA”.
Our prototype is designed to comply NPNT and is capable to perform security, surveillance inspection and mapping with a flight time of 50 min. Equipped with 360 degree obstacle avoidance sensor makes its operation more secure. Currently it is equipped with 10X optical zoom 4K camera as payload which could be replaced with mapping camera or thermal camera.
We are open to associate with industry stake holders and discuss about our prototype along with our enterprise RPAS application which we are working on and hopefully we would be launching soon. (NPNT Firmware, GoDrona GCS and GoDrona UTM).
Thank you to all who have supported Casca E-Connect on its way to success, we are very proud of what we have achieved together. As our progress is rewarding, we are very excited to maintain this trajectory. I truly believe our passion will help us build on the solid business foundation which we have laid with commitment, respect and a sustainable approach, during these 8 years.

We are delighted and proud to announce that, Casca E-Connect Private Limited has received authorization certificate for Research & Development as per the Rule 58 of UAS Rule 2021. Many thanks to R P KASHYAP Sir, D. C. Sharma Sir and Civil Aviation Department Of India.