Keeping It Safe Robert Tutterow
It was not that many years ago that I saw a drone on display at FDIC International that was being promoted for use in the fire service. I do not recall having either a negative or positive reaction and did not give the idea much thought.
As with a lot of new things, I could not relate to its possibilities based on my historical perspective. Here we are in 2025, and thousands of drones are now owned and used by fire departments. I had not realized how popular they had become until about five years ago when I asked a battalion chief in a large department if it had a drone. The response was, “Yes, I think we now have 15 of them.”
We do not have to look far to see how other industries are incorporating drones. Restaurants are now using drones, which are usually contracted, to deliver takeout food orders within a few miles of their locations. A drone food delivery was made in my neighborhood a couple of days before I wrote this column. And, a few of the big-box stores and online retailers are now using drones for package deliveries. How crowded will the skies be in just a few more years?
I am embarrassed to admit that I never gave firefighter safety a thought when it comes to drones. Then, I was reading some words of wisdom from the late Chief Alan Brunacini and came across one of his timeless tactical truths: “Make the unknown known.” I think that is where the value of how drones are being used today has a tremendous safety value. They provide added insight into situational awareness and can make the unknown situation known, and in a quicker time frame. Think of how many firefighters have lost their lives or were injured because of a lack of situational awareness.
Drones with thermal imaging cameras and live video streaming are probably default features to have on a department’s first drone or part of other features on a larger drone. It is amazing how small and inexpensive live, high-quality video cameras have become. These features have value at both structural and wildland fires. In fact, I doubt there has been a large wildland fire without the use of drones in recent years. With the right equipment, they can provide precise geographical location and atmospheric conditions.
I suspect that though drones are now common in many departments, we are still at the cutting edge of their influence on our service delivery. And, with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), the famous Yogi Berra saying is most definitely apropos: “The future ain’t what it used to be.” At a technology conference I attended last year, there was a lot of talk about drones. Drones have been developed that can apply water to a fire. There are studies indicating the viability of using a “swarm” of drones for wildland fire suppression. At this same conference, it was almost a foregone conclusion that many departments will have drones dispatched to a scene at the same time responders are alerted. The drone will inevitably arrive on the scene before the first-arriving ground units and will send real-time information to the responding units.
I have heard architects who specialize in fire station design state that it might be wise to have an area designated for a future drone pad for larger, possibly staffed, drones. First responder capabilities will be enhanced with larger drones, again possibly staffed with paramedics, to respond to EMS calls.
Despite the promise of innovative technologies and enhanced drone capabilities, there are a couple of limitations that will be difficult to overcome. The first limitation is battery life. It is true that batte