Working with different emergency response providers, as a drone pilot, can be an incredibly rewarding experience but all potential drone pilots must have undertaken CASA drone training with an accredited training provider. Getting emergency supplies to these communities is incredibly important after a disaster but sometimes traditional delivery methods have been made impossible by the destruction.ĭrones can bridge that gap, providing a simple and fast way of getting emergency supplies to communities that need them. In the wake of a natural disaster, roads can become blocked, bridges can collapse, and communities are devastated. Drones are making search and rescue quicker and more successful while keeping more people away from dangerous situations. Especially if they are looking in an area with low visibility or areas that are awash with trees, mountains, or any other natural landscapes that may make searching harder.ĭrones are nimble, can get very close to land, they’re fast, and a good drone pilot will be able to maneuver past different obstacles. Yes, there are helicopters, but they can only get so close to the land and views can be blocked or hard to make out, so again it’s not always the most effective way of searching for people. It can also put a lot of our search and rescue teams in harm’s way. Searching on foot is slow, tiring, and not always effective.

Search and rescue teams work tirelessly to find missing persons and people who need help. Our CASA drone trained pilots can get a good idea of what is going on without having to put actual human bodies in the way of any possible danger. Early detection is key when it comes to saving as many lives as possible and minimising damage. With drone surveillance in the sky, we detect issues and natural disasters before they become too much of a problem. It also means we are no longer sending our firefighters into a dangerous situation completely blind, saving their lives and others. This gives us time to evacuate those who may be in the path of a bush fire and allows our firefighters to work on the land ahead and possibly stop the fire before it causes more damage. Being able to get a bird’s eye view of a bush fire gives us the information we need to not only track where it currently is but also to get a clear, more reliable predicted trajectory of where it is going. It’s insanely dangerous to send many of our emergency response teams into an area that is severely affected by bush fires, which can leave people stranded, the fires continue to rage, and a lot of the time we are not completely sure which direction the bush fire will take next.ĭrones have changed how we tackle such emergencies. Bush Fire Trackingīush fires are a widespread and regular occurrence here in Australia and they’ve only been getting worse. Here are four ways drones are helping our emergency services. How can drones help emergency response units? To get involved in emergency response operations, you need to be a qualified drone pilot, to become a qualified drone pilot, you need to attend an accredited CASA drone training course, like the quality course we run here at Global Drone Solutions. As with the drone team now on the West Coast, USAR also provides specialist assistance to disaster response teams.When we think of drones, aerial photography and videography tend to be the first few things that come to mind but the career opportunities available to qualified drone pilots are far more varied.ĭrones are helping our emergency services, from accidents, floods, bush fires, and much more, the use of drones is making it far safer and quicker to get help to the people that need it. It specialises in heavy urban search and rescue capability at home and internationally.

The Fire and Emergency NZ USAR capability is made up skilled people from inside and outside the organisation, and from around the country.

The team of two drone operators and one spotter will be monitoring and mapping rivers, bridges and floodplains from Hokitika to Buller over the next three days, and making rapid disaster assessments of the heavy rain’s impact. The team is part of Fire and Emergency’s Southern Urban Search and Rescue Task Force and was deployed from Christchurch to the West Coast at the request of West Coast Civil Defence. Fire and Emergency Drone Teams deployed to the West CoastĪ drone team of three from Fire and Emergency New Zealand is currently carrying out a Rapid Assessment of the impact heavy rain is having on the West Coast.

Emergency 20 fire drone