The mayor of the city of New Haven (CT) and the firefighters union are at odds over plans to replace a fire engine with medical units, according to WTNH.

"Take into consideration that everything they do it medical calls. We'll have the appropriate vehicles and they'll be in quadrants of the city so they'll be closer to people who are making that call," said Mayor Toni Harp.

Harp says the city has purchased two new medical vehicles and is in the process of hiring more people to staff them. The fire truck at Engine Company 9 will move out to make room for the new units.

“Instead of using our $800,000 mammoth vehicles that are supposed to last us 20 years but are now only lasting us 10, that we’ll use a more appropriate vehicle to do medical calls,” said Harp.

Firefighters in Madison County (KY) are hoping a photo opp can help raise funds for a new truck bed.

The squad is reportedly offering free photos to people who donate to their cause. Donors can get a free photo of themselves with a partner, family member, spouse, or pet, from a professional photographer.

He said the amount of time and costs related to manpower drones can save, as well as their potential to save lives by getting to scenes quicker, makes them well worth the cost.

"We started looking at it as a way to respond much more timely to our rescue situations," Smith said. "Unfortunately most of our rescues turn into recoveries because we can't get there quick enough."

Smith said the Sheriff's Office added its first drone a year ago. Before using drones, deputies had to mobilize teams of volunteers who then searched at ground level.

"We have a volunteer dive team that, when it's called in, requires our volunteers to come from their place of work, their home, wherever they're at," Smith said. "They're not actually on duty when a call comes. So it takes a while to mobilize all those folks."

Now one deputy can begin a search in minutes using a drone.

"We can have our smaller drone...up in the air in less than 10 minutes," Smith said.

Smith said deputies aren't just using drones for search-and-rescue. He said they've also been using it for serious crash investigations, getting an aerial shot of the scene for later reconstruction.