Success stories from the Phoenix Fire Department drone program
See how the Phoenix Fire Department revolutionized emergency response with drones in this webinar featuring Executive Assistant Chief Walker. Learn how they championed, launched, and scaled their program and hear some of their compelling success stories.
- All right, everybody. Welcome. We're going to, uh,
- give just a few minutes for
- people to get in, uh, through the, uh, onboarding process,
- and then we'll get started.
- Again, for those of you coming on, and I'll say this a couple more times, uh,
- we
- will be, uh, letting a, a, a little bit of time for people to onboard
- to get into
- the webinar, and then we'll get started.
- And, uh, today, with me I have Scott Walker with the
- Phoenix Fire Department, and
- we hope to have a, a very, uh,
- informing, uh, webinar for you today.
- Okay, everybody. It's, uh, 4:02 PM Eastern Time and I believe
- that's 1:00 PM your time, Scott, is that right?
- It is, yes.
- So, uh, today... Hey, welcome everybody. My name's Charles Werner.
- I'm the director of Drone Responders, and today I'm,
- I'm pleased to welcome Chief
- Scott Walker with the Phoenix Fire Department, who's gonna give us
- some background and, and some information about how they
- started their program and
- some uniqueness of how they looked at doing this.
- Because what we've seen across the country is, especially from big cities, they're
- wondering, "Do we have to do one COA?
- Can we do, do we have to do multiple COAs?"
- And I think they've looked through and
- faced all that and went through and, and have a plan to go forward.
- So with that, uh, welcome Chief Walker.
- If you would, uh, give a little background about yourself
- and how did you get
- into drones.
- So, thanks, Chief Werner. I appreciate the opportunity to be here
- and to share with
- your audience and, you know, really share what our program is and,
- and the
- challenges we had and how we were successful.
- Very proud of the work we've done out here in Phoenix.
- Um, so a little bit about me. I've been with the fire department for
- about 30
- years. Um, current role is the executive assistant fire chief,
- so I
- assist the fire chief in really managing the data oper- day-to-day operations of
- the department. Obviously, Phoenix is one of the larger departments here in
- the
- country, so lots going on out here.
- Um, but specific to drones, so, um, you know, really I was in a
- unique position in '16, '17. I was in Austin, and
- Austin, as I'm sure all your,
- uh, viewers know, was, you know, on the front edge in the fire service
- about
- bringing a drone program on, online.
- And I had met up with QuikKessler through a, a mutual acquaintance, and really was
- so impressed with what they were doing.
- I immediately thought, "How can we bring this back to the Phoenix
- Fire Department?
- How can this benefit service delivery to our community, safety to our members?"
- And so, uh, when I came back to Phoenix, I really engaged in that.
- So, didn't really have a lot of knowledge
- before that, but gained a lot after.
- Um, and in my role, um, as I was, uh, mentioning earlier, is I'm
- really what I would describe as a project champion for our program.
- Um, we're a big city, so any mid-size to large city, very
- bureaucratic oftentimes. It can be challenging to bring a new
- program
- online. Um, we all understand that.
- I'm sure in the drones, you know, bring their own unique challenges
- sometimes.
- So when I got involved in this, um, I was really, uh, focused
- on making this a reality. And then our program manager,
- Division Chief Dan
- Cheatham, and his team have done a great job at
- really building this program out in
- the last 16 months. So we'll,
- we'll talk more about those things that we developed and how we made this a
- reality, 'cause we had a, we had a few bumps.
- We had many bumps to make our program a reality.
- So for me, it was really seeing how a drone can make
- it s- make our members
- safer in what they do, from a fire incident, a,
- a medical incident, a
- special, uh, a hazardous material incident
- or a technical rescue,
- but also how do we be more effective, efficient, um,
- and do we deliver a service to
- our community? So that's how I got started in this now
- going on about six years
- ago.
- Let me go through my routine questions that, uh, that I ask everybody in these
- types of programs is, uh, so when did you start your program?
- So we officially kicked off our program on, uh, June of
- 2022. So about 16 months ago. And so we've grown a
- lot since then, but I do think it's important to point out
- we started our effort in
- about '16, '17. And I think I would like to share for
- folks, maybe
- help them along their way, as I said, we had some challenges, um, that,
- you know,
- you can learn from what we,
- we, uh, experienced, I think. And so building out a program.
- And so, um, one of the, uh, some of the challenges we had in our
- program is really,
- obviously it was new in the public sector, you know, coming out of the, the
- military, what drones can be, how could we use them.
- We were all learning, I would say, at that point.
- But we didn't have a clear vision of what our program would be, and that can be a
- struggle in a big city, right? We have, obviously, a fire department and a police
- department and multiple other departments that all thought they knew they wanted a
- drone, but how would they use it? Um, one of our biggest mistakes we made is
- we over-committeed things, and we had too many committees who could
- never
- be getting something together, right?
- And then we tried to cri- create a policy that was so specific
- and narrow, by the time it was printed, it was outdated, right?
- They thought, "Well, let's put in specifically
- which drone model in our policy."
- Well, that didn't work. Technology was changing too fast, things like that.
- So, um, and then about, uh, late 2021,
- um, we realized, honestly, we were, we were behind in Phoenix.
- Where we're in an innovative department, innovative city, we needed to-
- ... own program. And so we, basically myself and just a couple others,
- took on the task of making this program reality, and that's when we really created
- a path forward, and we were able to do that in about six months.
- And, uh, one of the things we did, that I'm really proud of, is we created an
- overarching governance structure for the City of Phoenix for a
- UAV program. So what that means is we created a technical security
- and privacy
- committee, so we involved our ITS, uh, director, we involved our, uh,
- c- city attorneys, right, in this committee.
- So basically what happens is if you're a department
- and you want a drone program,
- you come up with your policies, your procedures, your use cases,
- what models you're
- gonna use. It goes to that TSMP committee.
- They review it from all those things that we know cybersecurity and,
- and attorneys
- need to look at, but they review it, provide feedback, and then you make
- adjustments. And then we created the executive
- committee, which is our fire chief,
- police chief, city manager representation, and we included two members of
- the community on that committee as well.
- Again, as we all know, transparency and community engagement involvement is
- critical in these programs. So then basically a department like fire
- will
- present their case. "Here's what we want to do.
- Here's what our program would look like. Here's how we'd use it.
- Here's the benefits to our community." The TSMP's already vetted out those
- challenges, and at that point it's pretty easy for
- that group to say, "Yes, we see
- the value," 'cause there's real value in these programs, as we know.
- So this structure, what I'm proud of, is now it's in place.
- So now our police department could come in right behind us and follow that.
- Our parks department has just been approved for a program.
- So all that heavy lifting has been done, and we really created that path for all
- departments to come online in the future. So we're proud of that.
- Um, we also had the fire department go first
- here in the City of Phoenix.
- Not that, uh, you know, they don't...
- Uh, people love our police department, but we know the police departments have a
- few more challenges, and certainly privacy issues and, and, uh,
- infringement on rights. We all hear about those things.
- So we had the fire department come online first, and then let the other departments
- follow. So with that, and really having now, as I said,
- myself as the
- champion at my level,
- I could really understand and appreciate the strategic benefit of
- the UAV program.
- I could make decisions. I could push through the obstacles.
- And then, uh, really get approval, and then let our program managers and our
- program folks really go forth and prosper.
- And my role now is really supporting them.
- Keep feeding them the budget, keep expanding,
- keep them thinking big picture, where
- do we go next? And so that's how we brought on our
- program.
- So sorry it's a long-winded answer, but there is a lot to how we got to June
- of
- 2022 for our program to start.
- So, so more specifically, um, what you've done is you've, you've created
- a template for other departments that want to come in next, and you have
- basically the outline questions of saying, "Here's what you need to answer and, and
- submit." Now, now I take it that you have one COA
- for your entire city.
- That is correct. Yes.
- Yeah, and a lot of people, a lot of people think
- that they individually have to do
- separate,
- uh, COAs, and they don't. Uh, the key is, uh, as you said, you have your overall
- governance one says, "This is how we're gonna operate as a city."
- And then as each
- of the other departments come in, they have to provide their CONOPs.
- Uh, they have to provide all the other
- information that the FAA is gonna want.
- Uh, and, and then you have to make sure you stay in
- it.
- Well, so basically you amend your COA, uh, as you add these other ones, so you're
- not, right, going through the whole process over
- again.
- So it's, it's exciting to see that as an example and, um,
- and how that's working for you. Because, you know, I'm, I've been having
- conversations with, uh, uh, Washington DC and, and you know they
- have very complex airspace, uh, so it's, it's even more unique.
- But they and other places, uh, around the, the country are now gonna learn
- from what you've done. And maybe we can even get to where we
- share some of the
- questions and stuff that you ask, uh, for the others to take advantage of.
- Uh, so how, how many remote pilots do you have?
- So right now we have eight pilots, and we have five more in training.
- And, um, our goal is to keep that number small enough that our k-
- pilots
- really keep very highly qualified and up to date on changes.
- Um, obviously in these programs, we can't have any type of failure or
- error, so we want to keep a tight control,
- um, on that. We looked really at all different ways to
- multitask the program.
- Even Phoenix as big as we are, you know, we don't have incidents that require a
- drone mission every incident, every day. So we really multitask.
- We use it in our training section. We use it in our fire prevention section
- to do
- inspections. Um, and so we're always looking for ways to,
- uh, you know,
- u- utilize our team and our group. We'll, uh, also work with other city departments
- that don't have drone programs yet. Do work for them.
- Um, we've done that on many occasions.
- And so about eight pilots and five in training right now.
- So are your re- [coughs] excuse me, remote pilots, are they dedicated
- or do they
- have other function, this is a collateral duty?
- So that's all... You know, the logistics of actually getting
- that drone out there
- in time to make an impact is the challenge, right?
- Especially our city, uh, we're 520 square miles.
- So our pilots are dedicated to our what we call Drone One.
- That's how we dispatch it. Um, well, right now we just purchased a, uh,
- vehicle, so a sprinter-type van.
- And my vision is that th- th- that group will have monitors inside the
- van.
- They'll have their drones. They'll respond out to incidents.
- And then they become a sector on that incident.
- So incident command, you know, needs to see something or
- is getting footage
- streamed to them, that becomes a sector. So they are dedicated to it.
- Um, we are looking also at expanding obviously
- our fleet with the drones.
- Um, and so we're looking. And so we have a north
- and south shift command.
- That's a deputy chief that is a higher than a battalion chief.
- One north, one south Phoenix. Looking at having, um, uh, probably
- we're looking at, uh, trying a tethered drone onto those units
- to really provide,
- um, really information even on a more basic
- incident quickly.
- And we want that information. So we are looking at expanding.
- You know, right now we're flying the Skydio, uh, X2,
- and that's been our program.
- And we'll talk a little bit maybe how we, uh, how we got to that drone and why we
- decided to do that. It might be a question,
- but we can share that.
- But, um, we do have the dedicated group.
- And because we're so big, right, we need to get folks out there in time to
- be able
- to get that information that bene-
- benefits the incident command or benefits the incident for the things we
- talked
- about.
- So, [coughs] so have you done any missions for
- the police department so far?
- Uh, we, we have, um, initially. Uh, right now the police department has
- brought on
- their program. And so our, our team and the police department, we work really
- seamlessly. We're very fortunate here in Phoenix,
- we have what we call our homeland
- defense. So that's police and fire dedicated here in the fire
- department building.
- So we m- plan our major incidents, Super Bowls, uh, our
- IMTs, we have functions out of that.
- So it really was seamless for those two programs to work, um, in that same
- structure. So we share drones and help each other out
- regularly. Um, when they need, um, help, we'll go f- uh, there for
- them. Sometimes we've had some really high heat
- here in Phoenix.
- Some of you might have noticed the high temps.
- Um, so when we got to those super high heat,
- uh, days, they actually flew a few m-
- few missions for us as well. So we work very well with our police
- department here
- in Phoenix.
- So, um,
- y- you mentioned that you, you're using the Skydio X2.
- Go, go ahead and talk a little bit about how
- did you come to that conclusion and
- then I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you, I'm gonna tag this onto it, is
- so have you seen the X10 and what are you thinking about it?
- So sure. So, um, you know, we started the program, as I talked about,
- you know,
- trying to overcome obstacles and that's what I encourage folks is,
- is really look
- for those obstacles for your program.
- And so, and lean into them and find a path through those as you look
- to bring a
- program on. So early on, we have a very...
- Obviously Phoenix is attacked by cybersecurity issues all the time trying
- to get
- into our networks, so we have a very stringent cybersecurity
- process and review
- process. And so one of the things, um, that I
- was very much, uh, really, uh, strict about is that we
- were going to bring,
- bring online our first drones were gonna be on the blue list.
- And I know this is very debatable out there.
- It was very debated with our program manager. He did not want to...
- He, he, he was resistant at first just to be
- limiting.
- But I said, "No,
- this is how we get through our obstacles quickly," right?
- We can circumvent the whole cybersecurity issue if we can say, "Well, it's DoD
- approved, it's others have vetted this,"
- and we can answer a lot of the questions.
- So that was why we went down that road to start.
- And then as we looked at the, what was available,
- we saw in the Skydio product and,
- and we were impressed with the product.
- We were impressed with their autonomous mapping feature, again in our fire
- prevention. We were looking at their obstacle
- avoidance, uh, features.
- And so really as we looked at it, it really became the obvious choice for us
- to s-
- to go with that product for initial launch.
- And then, and, and we've been working with Skydio in
- trying to find
- and, and provide feedback how to improve the
- product.
- And, uh, I would hope maybe some of the things
- we've shared maybe went into the
- X10. You mentioned that, so we're certainly looking at that.
- Um, a- and so, you know, on the X10, certainly the higher, uh, temperature
- rating is significant here in Phoenix, 'cause that is our biggest challenge
- probably is the temperatures, as you can imagine.
- Also, the, the 5G capability, um, I mentioned to, to you, Chief.
- If there is, is the next step in the future of this
- program is here in Phoenix, we
- do mountain rescues regularly. If you've been out to Phoenix, these
- are vertical
- trails that are challenging, um, very, uh, very labor-intensive.
- And so my vision is that we will have a nest
- type of, uh, the Skydio Nest or a, a nest on one of our, uh,
- guard shacks maybe with the X10 in there.
- And so that when we get a mountain rescue, we could dispatch that through our CAD,
- dispatch that drone to get that drone really on theater above the
- rescue
- location and start streaming back, that back to our crew so they can see, you
- know, what's the terrain, what's the technical, uh, needs,
- what equipment do they
- need, where's the patient, and they can really start making the plan
- while they're
- en route. So I know that's, you know, that's my dream and vision.
- I'm gonna work to try to get there. There's a lot of things to work through,
- but I
- think the X10 can offer that, um, you know, potentially for us.
- So we're impressed with what we're seeing there a- and, and been very happy with
- the, the Skydio, uh, X2 so far.
- Yeah. So I think you're gonna be doing a
- variation of a drone as a first responder
- program as, as we've seen more on the law enforcement
- side.
- So we're, you know, we'll be excited to see your progress in,
- in that area.
- Um,
- can you tell me a little bit about the challenges that you had?
- I know first you had the, you over committed, committed it.
- That was the one thing. But what were the other challenges you had in-
- internally?
- Any other, uh, discussions or roadblocks that stood in your way?
- Uh, so I'd say we didn't have early on, because maybe just the technology was
- too new, but really a clear vision of what our
- program would be.
- Um, you know, for the fire department and initially we assigned our special ops
- folks to try to develop the program.
- But we had fire, we had police, we had every d-
- city department doing their own
- thing, and then trying to com- multiple committees trying to figure out
- what that
- would look like. We had IT committees, we had attorney committees,
- we had training
- committees, we had operational committees, and everybody had their ideas, but we
- could never get all those committees and all that input into a policy.
- And then they started, uh, really fearing what may
- come, and so the way they were gonna solve
- [audio cuts out] that, as I said, is to actually list what
- particular model UAV we might, we'll, we can use.
- That was not gonna be successful, right? That changed too fast.
- And so, um, that was some of our biggest challenges.
- No real vision, no real path, and I would say no true project
- champion that can, uh, be at the level of maybe making decisions,
- driving through the obstacles, helping to drive the program forward.
- Again, that's really how I describe my role,
- and I give all the credit to our
- folks that built the program, right?
- I just help them guide and, and through the process.
- So I think if you can get a project champion that can, again, be at the level,
- right level to drive through those things, have a clear vision.
- Um, I think I'm always a big proponent of
- building out a business case of what it
- is. So why do you need a program? What's it gonna do for service delivery
- community? How is it gonna be make safer for your
- members?
- You know, what, um, what are the costs? What are the positive impacts?
- That's a tangible document now you can take anywhere and share.
- And so we, we created all those things as we stepped
- back and, um, Chief
- Cheatham did a very good jo-
- ... job creating that business case, and we could take that.
- And then, as I said, lean into those challenges.
- You're going to have them but, you know, obviously the security, privacy security
- issues and, and infringement of rights.
- And so once we created the governance, once we created our policies, procedures,
- and our use cases, we went out to the public.
- We did 14 different, um, community meetings and, uh,
- with police and fire and parks that were- we knew would be bringing a program
- online, and talked to the community and told them what we were gonna do
- and how it
- was gonna make the community better and safer, and address the questions.
- We had some on, you know, infringement of rights, those things,
- but we could
- address that, right? There were good answers. There
- are answers out there.
- And so we did that. And then adding on those two community
- members on that,
- uh, executive committee. By doing all that, it really overcame the
- challenges we had. But like I said, I, I would not
- over-committee. I would get a group of people
- that understand where you're going,
- can drive th- something from idea to implementation,
- and you'll
- probably be more successful in a mid to larger city.
- Yeah, so those of you that are listening, uh, here, and you're not members of Drone
- Responders, you might wanna join droneresponders.org.
- Membership is free, and we have the largest online resource
- center.
- And a lot of those things that the chief is talking about
- are in there, policies,
- procedures. And, uh, he has said he, he's willing to share the information
- he has. So if you, if you want a copy of that, just email me,
- uh,
- charles@droneresponders.org, and I'll make sure you get a copy 'cause
- I'll, I'll
- get Chief Walker to give it to me so I'll take him out of the loop of having to
- send out all these separate emails.
- One of the questions that came up, um, is, so h- so what types of
- calls does it respond on now? Does...
- And do they respond automatically by dispatch?
- So, um, so yes, we do dispatch on certain incidents,
- but we can
- also... Obviously, incident commanders can request it.
- But where we're sending the unit right now, structure fires, our mountain
- rescues, our hazmat incidents, uh, trench rescues.
- We are, um, our fire investigations group
- are using it, um, when they need it, not
- automatically dispatched. As I said, we are doing mapping functions in our fire
- prevention efforts. Um, our training section is using it.
- But as far as dispatch, structure fires, mountain rescues, hazmat incidents,
- technical rescue, those types of things, trench rescues automatically dispatch on
- those incidents and then can be requested by incident commander.
- Okay, I think I've got a couple questions here
- that I'll try to cover.
- Um, it says, "How close do you work with Embry-Riddle
- at, and
- AUVSI?"
- You know, um, we, we really aren't working
- that close with them. No, we're not.
- We don't have any reason not to. It just hasn't, um,
- been something we've built,
- built that relationship with them here in Phoenix, um, on our program.
- So we, uh, we have worked across obviously many
- departments, and many,
- maybe some of you listening have helped, help, have helped, helped us build our
- program. So we're definitely collaborative.
- We just haven't, um, had to really engage with them yet
- or engaged with them.
- So then there's a question that is probably for me.
- Uh, please better define COA, and how do they function with the FAA?
- So the COA is a certificate of authorization.
- It's a basic waiver that allows a department
- or organization to operate as
- a public aircraft operation. A COA is only available to an
- entity that is actually a political subdivision.
- That means it has to be a city, town, county,
- uh, state agency, federal agency, tribal, or
- territorial. So, uh, if, for example, volunteer fire
- departments and those kind of things are not eligible unless they're considered
- a
- part of the town or city and there's an agreement as such.
- Uh, what's important about a COA is that the COA allows you to do things
- beyond
- the norm of Part 107. Uh, and specifically
- drones are first responders. One example, you have to get a beyond visual line of
- sight waiver, and you can only do that under a COA.
- And there's also a tactical beyond visual line of sight waiver, which allows you to
- fly 1,500 feet laterally within 50 feet of the highest obstacle
- on dangerous missions. So if you've got a hazmat incident,
- if you've got a, a
- hostage situation, an active shooter where it's actually
- dangerous to literally
- be in the line of fire or in the visual line of sight, uh,
- it allows you to do
- that. Uh, and as long as your airspace allows it,
- you can do it anytime you want.
- A COA, also what we've seen... And, and Chief Walker,
- I haven't talked to you about
- this, but what we've seen, and it started in Las Vegas, is
- that under a COA
- we've actually been able to get custom, uh, facility map grids.
- And what facility map grids are, for those of you that don't know, are the,
- the
- limitations that are put on the areas around airports.
- They create a map that tells you in each section how high
- you can fly or that you
- can't fly at all. And we've seen it be able to go from zero
- grids in a
- lot of places to at least 200 feet to allow public safety to fly.
- Now, that makes it custom to the public
- aircraft agency alone.
- It doesn't make it open to the public.
- Uh, so we have seen that, and as long as the airports approve it,
- it usually gets
- done.
- So next question. How would your interface, uh,
- Chief Walker,
- uh, with your program, uh, with my local department since you have
- this template?
- And I think the answer I said earlier was, um, I'll get a copy of his template and
- the questions, and then send an email to me,
- charles@droneresponders.org, and I'll
- send that to you. And that will give you the direct, uh,
- understanding of how
- that's done. And if you have specific questions,
- please ask them as we go forward.
- Um, and then I've got one more. Uh, I got a couple questions here.
- Get that one.
- Uh, what qualifications you use for an
- incident to have a UAS
- dispatch? What did you... What was your process of your thinking?
- So really, uh, you know, we,
- we took a pretty wide, uh, swath of incidents, right?
- Anywhere we think there's potential that UAV's gonna benefit the incident
- commander
- of that incident for safety or service delivery, we want it there,
- and that's our
- approach. So obviously the low-hang fruit, the fire department, certainly structure
- fires, right, to get that overhead view.
- That 360 degree view is certainly a, a really pretty easy one for us.
- Mountain rescues are huge because we're getting that information ahead of time.
- Um, the hazmat incidents, again, we can put the UAV in there into
- that environment
- without our folks. Um, we've got a lot of, uh, you know, electrical vehicle
- issues. Or not issues but, you know, fire incidents and, and, um, inc- and
- there's all those vehicles here in town. They're in buildings.
- They go back at night and, and get charged.
- So we're now actually-
- We send in a UAV inside the building to assess what's going on before we send in
- our folks. So we're really open to any call where we
- think it can add value.
- Obviously, the trench rescue, and I've got a,
- some videos here I can show at the
- end of a trench rescue. The, the ability for these commander see the
- video
- from this drone. They were blind where they were sitting, um,
- so it's huge
- there. And then really there is no, there's no incident we wouldn't send it
- to. It simply would be can we get it there
- fast to have an impact?
- A standard, you know what I call a routine house fire,
- obviously, it's gonna be
- over probably pretty quick. And if it's in North Phoenix we may not be
- able to get
- the UAV there fast enough, um, right now, but we're open to any
- incident really.
- Yeah. And you mentioned earlier about a tethered
- drone.
- I know that, uh, LA City Fire, for example,
- has been working on developing that.
- They, they, uh,
- kind of came forward with an idea of calling it a phase one drone program,
- where
- basically the drone is on the vehicle and it can arrive at the scene.
- They were looking into do it, put it on their, uh,
- BC buggies to where when they
- arrived at the scene, they just automatically put the drone up.
- And so it was automatically giving you that visual, and it could go from normal
- visual optics to thermal, and it was one button operation.
- One button up, one button down. Now, the other part of it being a public
- aircraft
- operation or, or being eligible to be a public aircraft
- operation with a tethered
- drone, you do not have to be a remote pilot, uh,
- or have a COA.
- I don't recommend you do that. I recommend everybody who's gonna fly a
- drone have
- Part 107 so you understand the airspace, but that is one of the,
- uh, the, the unique things about tethered drones.
- Um,
- so I've got one here. It says, "How many hats can police officers wear?
- The drone pilots in my area fly drones as well.
- Do they understand the tech they're using?
- That spreads them kind of thin, doesn't it?" Well, I'll explain that most
- departments in the United States right now are flying, uh, these as a collateral
- duty in addition to both firefighters and police officers with the exception of
- a
- few. Uh, I think Phoenix is one example of one of the exceptions.
- Uh, we're starting to see places like FDNY
- that have actually gone to having a
- full-frame... They have a, a robotics team, and I th- I think
- Austin may be doing some of that as well.
- But, uh, and most of them, I would say from what I've seen,
- they're trained very
- well. Uh, they're doing, uh, uh, regular training.
- And does it spread them kind of thin?
- It does, but it adds a level of safety
- that you can't get.
- And I'll give you one example from Oklahoma City Police Department.
- They have, uh, a program that's called a Patrol LED
- Division.
- I think they use Skydios as well. And what they do is at...
- The first officer that gets on the scene continues to do his
- normal officer duties.
- The second officer who gets on scene puts a drone up, and that immediately gives
- you this overwatch. And they have several situations
- that they've demonstrated, and
- we've got a video on one of our previous webinars, where they actually saw a person
- who was waiting to ambush them. So you can just see how that changes it.
- And then drone as a first responder is the,
- the new technology of launching a drone
- from a 911 call that actually gets there first in a lot of cases, and it gives
- really eyes on the scene in advance, and the officers can see that information,
- and
- that's worked as a de-escalator. So I hope that answers your question.
- Um, they have a question for you. It says, "Can you get good thermal readings with
- the hot weather, Chief?"
- S- so, uh, yes, we,
- we can. And in fact, one of the other videos I have,
- it's a contrast of thermal
- and, and, uh, just regular view. And so I'll show that here at the end.
- But yes, we, um, we get very good thermals, uh, with the,
- uh, with, with
- specifically with the, uh, Skydio X2, I can tell you we do.
- And then I've got one here that says, "Does the Skydio pick up cell phone
- signals?"
- Uh, you know, I don't know the answer to that question.
- Yeah, I, I think w- I think I can answer some of those
- questions.
- Uh, right now, uh, Skydio, and along with other aircraft
- manufacturers, are looking to use the, the 4G LTE and the 5G
- that's coming as a navigational tool that allow you to give a,
- a wider range than
- just the controller. So stay tuned.
- That's all kind of developing and going forward. So it is happening.
- Okay. Uh,
- and it says, "Would you mind sharing your vision
- statement?"
- Of your drone program, I'm guessing.
- Yeah. We- we're happy to share. Many people shared information with us, so
- I'll make our, the citywide governance structure, our,
- uh, policies, procedure,
- uh, available to the ch-
- chief and then anybody that wanna reach, wants to reach out, um, you know, they can
- have it. Um, if you have anything specific,
- you're certainly welcome to always
- reach out to the police department and we can do what we can to help you with
- your
- program. So, um, we will- we'll share all that documentation.
- Uh, and then I've got one that's a little bit
- off topic, but it says, uh, "Are you
- looking at, uh, counter-UAS capability being, to being
- explored?"
- Not at this time. As I said, we've talked obviously
- and work with our police
- department, you know, and, and that's more in their area.
- But even that, it's really, it's, it's come up as a conversation,
- but we're not
- working any direction at this time.
- Yeah. And I think for, for those of you know that,
- that may not know, right now
- counter-UAS is only allowed as far as mitigation for s-
- a few federal agencies. So state, local, tribal, territorial cannot do any
- mitigation. At best we can do a detection to determine
- what's
- happening in our airspace, and a lot of that's happening around the
- country.
- But, uh, right now, mitigation won't be allowed for state,
- local, tribal,
- territorial until Congress gives authority to do so, and they have been very
- reluctant to do so.
- Uh, let's see. "Are you operating
- BVLOS in Phoenix? If so, what mitigations are you using?"
- We are just in the, uh, early stages of, of doing that.
- So, um, and I don't, again, I, that's probably a better question for Dan
- Cheatham,
- our program manager, on that. Um, but I know we're in the early stages of
- that.
- And, and you mentioned that if you do your mountain rescue in the
- future, that
- would be one of the features and things you've done.
- How about the tactical be obvious on a site waiver? Are you looking at that?
- Um, w- we are. Like I said, we, uh, we started obviously with Part 107, then
- moved to the s- the COA, and so now we're moving into the,
- those options for us.
- Um, so, you know, we're, we're just s- methodically building the
- program.
- Okay. I'll put my
- email address in the
- question and answer area.
- There, that's done. Uh, what training programs methodology
- do you use for your pilots who are flying under COA a- and BVLOS,
- well, uh, just under the COA?
- So as far as our training, we built out our, like I said, our, our,
- our training
- program. So it starts... And I'll, I wanna make sure I read this right here.
- Um, we started out with the, uh, Skydio Academy training site,
- and then we have
- a 40-hour criteria that we built out for training,
- and then a,
- obviously, a hands-on training, um, testing process.
- So all of our members go through that, and then they come back monthly for
- regular
- continuing education to test their skills.
- Um, so obviously if we looked at, you know, uh, different NFPA, FAA
- requirements we built into our program.
- And so, um, that's our model of our training program.
- And then our policy procedure that I'll share, um, it, it outlines
- the training even more.
- And, uh, are you using any of the NIST courses in
- that?
- We are. Yes. Yes. I apologize. I didn't... Yeah.
- That's the test. That's the final test for our pilots to,
- you know, actually be a
- pilot.
- So you use the, uh, uh, the NIST
- test lanes as your proficiency test?
- Yes.
- Uh, what's the average cost you spend per
- device?
- Is there additional pay for having multiple functions in your department?
- Um, obvi- uh, uh, the cost of per device
- as far as I'm not sure if I clear on the question.
- Can you read that again?
- I think they're talking about the aircraft.
- So obviously we started out with the Skydio. We have the Skydio X2s.
- That's what we have right now. So that's...
- I don't know the exact price, to be honest with you,
- what we paid for them.
- Um, so that's our... that's the, uh, units we use right now.
- That's only, that's the only type of, uh, drone we use at this time.
- Okay. And then I've got a mention here.
- It says, "PhotoKite already has developed a
- tethered drone to a roof of vehicle
- with an enclosed case." So I've just read that to everybody so they've seen
- that.
- Um, can you talk a little about practical
- skill training?
- I think you just did that, um, basically with the, the course that you
- looked at, and you've got the NFPA and the other standards
- and use of the NIST for
- proficiency. So I think we've kind of covered that.
- Yeah.
- And it's a four-year class. And what I'll do is, uh, I'll get with,
- uh, Chief
- Walker to get kind of a, uh... We'll, we'll get a folder up on the Drone
- Responders
- Resource Center with the Phoenix resources,
- and we'll just put them all in one
- place for everybody. So that's another reason for you to join
- droneresponders.org.
- Um,
- we've answered that one. Um,
- we've answered that.
- You can track public safety devices with free apps from your phone. Question.
- Um, so if you're talking about the, uh, remote ID,
- you can detect the devices, uh,
- with a, with a, a phone that has a, a compliant
- remote ID drone. Now that you... The September
- 16th, I think, was the date that was requiring federal I- the, uh,
- remote ID to be
- in place. However, the FAA has delayed enforcement,
- not compliance, enforcement of the I-
- remote ID on drones. So if you have a program
- and you don't have it, you need to go
- ahead and get it, because if you have an older drone
- that requires a broadcast
- device, you're gonna need this to order
- that 'cause it may take two months.
- So don't wait till March to order it because then you'll be past the
- enforcement
- period.
- Um,
- you can also go to the FAA website and look up F- remote ID,
- and it can actually
- give you a list of all those compliant aircraft, uh, with compliant remote
- ID that meets the requirements.
- Uh,
- so let's see. I am a GIS special for the small city,
- population 30,000.
- Can you discuss the advantages of disadvantages of a COA over a
- team of 107 pilots?
- Um,
- I'll answer that. It really depends on what you want,
- what you want, wanna do with
- it. Uh, if you're, if you're flying commercial flights, uh,
- part 107's
- gonna meet all your requirements.
- But if you want any of the BVLOS waivers and you wanna do anything, um,
- that's beyond the normal part 107, then you have to get a COA.
- That's the big difference. Uh, the one big difference about a part 107
- pilot
- is you actually can fly without a visual observer.
- Uh, that's one of the unique things about part
- 107.
- With a COA, you have to have a visual observer that's
- flying with you.
- Uh, so, uh, the next one says you teach theory
- and you give a practical, and that
- answer is yes.
- Trying to go through and catch all these things.
- Uh, which NIST policies are you using?
- I think they're using the NIST Standard Test Methods for small unmanned aircraft
- systems, which is under the UAS, the NIST robotics program.
- Uh, and again, we have a NIST folder in the re- re-
- regional...
- I mean, sorry, the resource center at Drone Responders.
- And, um, you can get all the NIST information
- there.
- It has all the forms, the procedures, the design of the, the, the,
- the,
- uh, courses, and they're very inexpensive.
- And, and, uh, what is your annual budget for your program,
- Chief Walker?
- So this has been, um... Yeah, obviously budgets drive a lot of things,
- right?
- And, and, and Dan, obviously, he's a...
- participating in the webinar. He just texted me, bailed me out here.
- So we're spending about $15,000 per, uh, U- UAV.
- He just, uh, he just let me know. Um, our budget, so we're, we're building our
- budget, right? We, so we started really absorbing the cost.
- But, um, right now I anticipate this budget will
- probably get into
- $250,000 to $350,000 a year will be our
- budget as far as, you know, buying UAVs, replacing UAVs,
- um, overtime for the program. That's what we're kind of gonna settle on,
- settle
- into. Um, like I said, right now we're just,
- we're building the program.
- So we're learning how much overtime does it take to cover off hours
- or weekends, um, when someone might be off.
- You know, exactly what models of UAVs are we gonna incorporate as we expand the
- fleet. And so as the, as, as the program grows,
- obviously the cost grows.
- Um, you know, w- we are using, as mentioned, dedicated people,
- dedicated staffing, but, um, and, and training we do here, so,
- um, but right now we're spending, we're gonna be spending probably about
- 250,
- $350,000 a year on the program.
- So, um, you know, I, I always ask the departments, uh,
- you know,
- when you first started using the drones, it...
- there's a lot of people that are resistant saying,
- "We don't need those toys.
- We," you know, "we don't really see the value."
- And then we see a change over time
- once the drones are operational. Are you seeing that change now where the
- people
- are like, "Where's the drone?"
- 100%. Um, yeah, I, I can tell you it's interesting.
- So June 12th, 2022, our program went live, as I mentioned.
- So we, within two hours of our program going
- live, we had a brush fire
- that was right next to Sky Harbor International Airport,
- which on the other side of
- that was another city, Tempe, and, um, we had that, got the drone out
- there and we were able to get footage, um, overhead.
- So literally we were able to validate the program within two hours of going live,
- and we continue to do that on, I'd say, on every mission.
- Um, you know, we did a controlled burn right here in
- Phoenix on the southwest part
- of Phoenix today with the State Department of Forest Management, our water
- department, in a wetland area. And, you know, we had the drone feed, uh,
- Dan was- sent the drone feed out so we could all
- watch that sitting back here in
- the office to
- see how it's going. Over at City Hall shared that.
- So we really worked at, I'd say, marketing what we're doing,
- but in a real true
- way. What's the impacts this program is having.
- And, um, it, it did not take long at all for people to
- see the value, see the
- impact, and to be really buy in from our elected
- officials, our city
- leadership, and certainly here in the fire department.
- Yeah, I think I shared offline, one of the things I helped our local
- police
- department do a video for community awareness.
- And one of the things that they say in it, or two things they say in it, one is
- that if you see our drone flying in the air,
- the Charlottesville Police Department,
- it's on a mission. That means we're either training,
- we're doing a demonstration
- for somebody like you, or we're flying an incident,
- and that's the only reason
- we're flying. And the one thing that we are not doing
- is we're not doing random
- surveillance, 'cause that's the big privacy policy
- issue.
- Yeah. It, it really should not be difficult for any
- of us at this point to try to
- put together a use case or a business case of the benefits of UAV
- program in your community, large or small, right?
- For service delivery to your community,
- for your member safety, whether it be firefighters
- or police officers or anybody.
- Um, you know, it's more effective, more efficient.
- Our parks department, we talked about them.
- Certainly not public safety per se, but they do have rangers.
- But even inspecting the trails, they have to do that and it takes hours.
- They have miles of trails that have to be inspected for erosion.
- So you can see the value just even, uh, from a financial perspective for the parks
- department and a staffing perspective.
- So there are so many ways to validate the be- benefit of a U- UAV program
- in your community.
- Yeah, and again, I've, I've, I've put together a video of about 10
- or 15,
- uh, actual mission video clips that people can see
- if they wanna use that.
- Again, you can just ask me, just my email's in the question answers.
- Um, befo- okay, so let's, let's stop talking for a little bit.
- Let's get to the, the really important stuff here with some
- of the, the videos.
- And I'll go back to the questions that are, they're still, uh, building up.
- But I wanna make sure we get to see some of these videos.
- Okay. Let me, uh... So this first one here.
- Hopefully everybody can see that.
- So this was a trench rescue, obviously a vertical trench we had,
- so it was a
- confined space trench rescue. And they said this
- was a location for incident
- commander could not see due to burned dirt around this incident.
- So this was the advantage of having a UAV overhead, is that incident commander
- could make sure this operation was safe and was perf- everybody
- was performing as
- they're trained and supposed to. And so we're bringing out this victim out
- of this
- hole on this trench rescue. So just that alone,
- obviously firefighter safety, better service to the very community.
- Um, and so that's a, a great one that I think captures what
- the benefit of a UAV there, right? Um-
- And are you, are you using streaming?
- We, we are, yes. So we're, we're really
- expanding our ser- ability to stream.
- Right now we wanna get it, um, right now Dan, uh,
- obviously a program manager,
- sends the link out to all, uh, all of us.
- We wanna get where we obviously have a more robust streaming ability.
- Um, that's our next step.
- And, and so what your incident commander's able
- to see that process is the progress
- is taking place. And should anything go wrong,
- they're immediately seeing what
- happens.
- Yes. So on that incident, um, right now our, um,
- our drone operator would,
- would be providing this feed to our incident commander.
- So the incident commander would be watching this in real time,
- that operation.
- Okay.
- Um, let's see. Another one that I think is, uh, mentioned,
- someone mentioned about infrared. So here's infrared.
- Here's obviously
- r- bottom is just your normal view. You see the smoke.
- You really can't see any firefighters working in there.
- I don't, we don't see anything right now.
- Oh. All right, sorry about that. I'll, didn't, I've gotta share that.
- Yeah.
- Uh, all right.
- How about now?
- Yep.
- So again, uh, bottom is, uh, just a na- just a regular view.
- See the smoke. You really can't see anybody working.
- Now on the top, you see our firefighters working in here,
- right?
- So even in the heat, um, and this is a, a typical summer day here in Phoenix.
- So you can see, we can really see, uh, everything that's happening.
- You're gonna see the, uh,
- uh, hose line be pulled in here, and gonna obviously hit a hotspot.
- Incident...
- Or the captain's telling them where to put the water.
- They're gonna use the water here in just a second. There it is.
- So yeah, so we can see easily infrared here in
- Phoenix, um, even in our
- temperatures.
- So, um, have you had an experience where you've
- had a, a fire where you're using a,
- a water tower operation and you're actually able to see through
- the smoke to direct
- the water m- more specifically on the fire,
- where before you may have, may have
- been hitting or missing?
- I've not su- I have not familiar where we've actually
- done that, but we certainly
- could. I'm just not sure if we've done that
- or I'm just not sure of an incident
- where that may have happened.
- Okay.
- Uh, let me see if we got time. A couple other ones here that are
- really tell the story. Someone asked about, you know,
- how do you tell the story or
- these, these are ones that I use all the time, um, and really do
- it, uh, demonstrate it. So
- this incident, so this was a brush fire, um, here just a few
- months ago in Phoenix. And
- so what's important about this, you see this brush fire.
- This there just to the left, that is a homeless encampment.
- We've had a lot, obviously, some homeless issues here in Phoenix.
- We have a lot of homeless living in these, uh, brush areas that we don't know
- about. And so by having the drone overhead,
- we know where the fire is obviously
- going. We can plan for that, but also we will identify a homeless
- encampment in
- that area. So that is obviously critical information for
- incident commander for
- life safety, um, out there on that incident.
- So really demonstrates, I think, clearly the value of a,
- of a UAV program. And then, um-
- Just another one that I think is
- valuable to, to see. Here, I'll back up.
- So this is a several hundred thousand square foot warehouse we have in
- Phoenix. This incident was actually a fire in the solar panels up
- on this
- roof. You can see the damage right there. These are our firefighters.
- Um, obviously scale, you can see how small they are.
- But the incident commander was able to be able to see this.
- Here's our incident commander out in the street.
- Obviously, for anybody in the fire department,
- you'd have no idea what's happening
- up on that roof other than reports you may be getting, but now be able to see it
- and see exactly what's happening, obviously safety of our firefighters,
- but also
- where's the incident occurring, do we need more resources,
- do we have enough
- resources. So again, those are just a couple of, uh, uh, many
- examples that we have, um, that demonstrate the
- value of that UAV program right there.
- So,
- um,
- one more here I'll share. Um, this was a just a
- fire just a few months ago here in Phoenix.
- This actually was a four-alarm fire that, uh, due to weather conditions actually,
- um,
- spread through multiple structures.
- This is in actually, um, downtown Phoenix area.
- You can see they monitor vegetation, debris, different structures here.
- So this fire actually spread through, uh, four different residents in this area.
- But, uh, having that UAV overhead to see where the
- fire's at, to see access points
- for incident commander, again, pretty obvious the value of the
- UAV program, um, on an [audio cuts out]
- like that.
- So those-
- And, and-
- ... are just a few that I pulled that I wanted to share, thought might,
- people
- might appreciate.
- Yeah, and I know that, um, y- you know, a lot of departments have had success
- using
- the thermal camera when they have a structure fire.
- And maybe there's nothing showing exteriorly,
- but they're seeing a heat signature
- on the roof that's showing that there may be an integrity issue,
- which means we
- keep our firefighters off the roof, which is the most dangerous place they're
- probably gonna operate in a fire.
- Exactly.
- So have you, have you used it in any hazmat incidents
- yet?
- W- we have. Um, just, uh, say probably four or
- five weeks ago, we had a, um, electrical, elect- an
- EV vehicle that had a thermal runaway, caught fire
- inside of a, um, inside of a structure.
- Um, that, that one
- I know we used it on the hazmat incident, um, to get footage.
- Again, we wanna try to keep our folks out of
- that, uh, lithium, producing that
- smoke from the lithium battery, as we all know.
- We also had another, um, recent, uh,
- EV-related,
- battery-related incident where we did send the drone inside.
- There were, uh, it was a pallet size of EV batteries.
- We sent the drone inside before we sent our people to really assess what the
- situation is. Was the fire out? Was the fire extending?
- You know, those types of things. And so we were able to send it in there.
- And this was part of the dream in the beginning when you asked in the very
- questions, why did we see the value, how did we see the value, why did we,
- how did
- I get interested? This was the call that I'm thinking about, right?
- We can send that UAV in that incident, protect our folks, get the information we
- need, put together a plan, make sure we have the right resources,
- and then execute
- on that plan. So, so we've used the UAV on several of our
- EV-related
- type fires, um, so far here in Phoenix.
- A- a- and so I think, um, you know, a while back you and I had talked
- that you're
- also looking at using the drones if you have a fire,
- like in a large warehouse, and
- you wanna cover some areas and look at it, get s- get some eyes on before your
- people get back in there too far.
- 100%. Um, like I said, the, uh, one video had that large warehouse here in
- Phoenix in our region. We have several,
- you know, uh, Amazon warehouses and different bus- businesses, two,
- 300,000
- square feet buildings. We don't want our people going any deeper
- than 150 feet,
- right? And so if you make the wrong choice on
- which entrance to make, you may never
- find the fire. So by getting that UAV in there, flying through there,
- we can locate
- where the fire is, the condition or the, you know, really extent of the fire,
- and then we now b- better understand where our access points
- are.
- We can put our people in the right location, get in there, s- uh,
- control the fire
- quickly, and really not risk a big box type of
- incident, which
- are firefighter killers, as we know.
- And so again, that's one of the other areas we wanna
- start using it w- in that area
- as well.
- Okay, let's flip over to some questions again.
- I've got who services your drones, and what's the turnaround time for a drone
- repair or fix?
- You know what, uh, again, that would be one, Dan, w- I know we
- maintain, you know, uh, as far as the batteries
- and replacement batteries.
- Um, I know we work with Skydio, but I don't know specifically who
- services.
- I apologize. I don't have that information.
- Might be able to try to get it to you [audio cuts out] and post it.
- Yeah, and just so people know, in our, in our Drone Responders Resource Center,
- we
- also have a, uh, a folder of starting a program,
- and we have one,
- uh, one document which is considerations and guidelines before
- you start looking at doing a program, some things you need to understand.
- And one of the things, you hit batteries.
- One of the things people don't realize is that over time you'll spend more money
- on
- batteries than you do on the actual aircraft.
- So be aware of that because you do have to go through a regular rotation probably
- on an annual basis, but it's also based on the number of uses
- and charges and
- recharges and those things.
- Uh, let's see. How do you foresee implementation of
- Bluetooth det- detection on
- drones? Do you s- do you think this would be useful for
- hazmat incident structure
- fires, crew rescues, and mountain rescues?
- You know, generally speaking, the remote ID, uh,
- was put in place so that
- it gives us as public safety the way to determine, uh, and
- potentially whitelist drones and then understand
- which drones aren't authorized to
- fly. And I think what it's, what it's gonna help us with
- is we're gonna be able
- to use relatively inexpensive devices to see who's operating in the area.
- So if we have a news drone or something else, we can identify, uh,
- the, where that drone's flying and potentially the location of the pilot.
- So if we have that or a large event like a f- uh,
- like a Super Bowl, uh, that we
- could actually locate and mitigate that incident.
- So I, I don't see it being that much helpful for, uh,
- Bluetooth detection of the drones.
- What I think will be helpful is I recently had a...
- attended a presentation with a company called QRC that's developed a k-
- a Bluetooth
- detection device that can actually locate a d- a Bluetooth
- device on the ground. So if you're thinking about
- that from locating where
- people are located, that could be helpful.
- And, um, they were able to, to narrow it down to, like, uh, three
- meters of where it was located, and they could filter it by device,
- manufacturer. Um, so that, so that's gonna be something I think
- will be helpful in search and rescue and those kind of things.
- Um,
- question is, "If we have a COA, do we have to fly under it?
- Can we choose to fly Part 107 one flight and under the COA or
- another?"
- Uh, do you wanna answer that one?
- Uh, you know what? I, I'll let you... I defer to you on that.
- I think you might be more-
- Okay
- ... up on the next part.
- Yeah. So, uh, if you have a COA, uh, it just gives you an option.
- So you can fly under the COA or Part 107, but you have to decide which set of rules
- you're gonna fly under from the very beginning of the mission.
- Now, does that mean you have to do that through the entire incident? No.
- You can land and say, "Now you're gonna operate on Part 107,"
- where you may have
- started under public aircraft operations.
- So,
- uh, you don't have to operate under one.
- You just have to decide which one you're gonna operate under
- and do it, uh,
- through that process.
- Uh, let's see. "Can you speak to what platform you use to
- live
- stream incidents to command staff?"
- Right now we're using, um... We're just using the Skyto links, uh,
- to our command staff, and we're moving into, um...
- Sorry, I've drawn a blank, um, on which, uh, streaming service.
- I'll try to get that answer here real quick.
- Oh, DroneSense. That's it. Yeah. DroneSense is we're moving into our first
- streaming service.
- Okay.
- Um, uh, I think that's what everybody's asking.
- Same question here.
- Got that one.
- Got that one. "And will there be a recording of this
- webinar?" The answer is yes.
- Uh, after this, uh, finishes processing, it will be up on our Drone
- Responders YouTube channel, and you can see it there as well.
- And I think
- that looks like our last question.
- So, um,
- you know, you've, you've kinda highlighted your success has
- been narrow down the s-
- the scope, get a, get a smaller group of people,
- don't over-committee it.
- Uh, go at it directly. All the hard questions, hit them up front.
- Um, as you indicated, uh, it's always recommendation start as a fire
- department
- first because they're,
- they're... don't have the p- the privacy issues that, that,
- that police departments
- often have.
- Uh, and then the police departments can
- follow.
- But even with the police departments, what's really important is that you're,
- you're open, that you have community outreach, uh,
- that you have policy in place,
- that you have transparency, that you talk specifically
- that you're not gonna be
- doing random surveillance. That's the big issues.
- Uh, the ACLU doesn't care about the drone. They care about the data.
- Uh, that's the big issue. So try to follow the ACLU as much as you
- can.
- Uh, when you're flying missions, uh, keep the, keep the camera looking forward
- until you're actually flying over the area that you need to fly on.
- That way you're not looking at things that people are accusing you of.
- And again, uh, we have all these resources,
- and I will get with Chief Walker to get
- the resources that he has and put them in a folder so
- that everyone can access
- them. You'll be able to go to, uh, the resource center on droneresponders.org
- and go into... I'll have a Phoenix Fire Department folder
- lined up that you can go
- into. I got one more question here that just popped up.
- Okay. It said, "Thank you for, uh, the information,"
- and, "What is your IC using to view the footage
- you're capturing?"
- Right now we're, uh, tablets. So we have iPads that we can, uh,
- uh, send a link to, and they can view it on that.
- We also, uh, in our incident command, command vehicle, our drone team
- will actually, uh, hardwire, hard connect two monitors inside.
- So they're seeing a 42-inch monitor inside the command vehicle, um, as
- well.
- Uh, and then you'd mentioned that you're using DroneSense.
- And with DroneSense, typically, I think as I understand it,
- they create what's
- called the Magic Link. And the Magic Link
- is one that's specifically
- for that particular video that's taking place.
- And you can share that, and as long as you have internet
- connectivity, you have
- access to that streaming video that's actually real-time streaming video.
- Okay. Well, anything else you'd like to say to wrap us
- up here?
- No. I, I, I really appreciate the opportunity to,
- to share about our program.
- Again, we're proud of what we've done out here.
- Happy to share the information.
- For anybody out there, you can reach out and, and we're always
- happy to share because others helped us be successful.
- Um, I would just encourage you, I said, is if you're,
- you're trying to prep start a
- program, you're having some challenges, just lean into them.
- You can get through them. If we can do it, you can do it, I assure you, right?
- Um, and so I would just, uh, encourage you to do that.
- Really, um, you will benefit from having a U-
- UAV program for your community,
- for your members. And so I'd encourage you all to,
- to pursue that, pursue that
- effort.
- A- and I'll just, uh, wrap up by saying what we've seen drones
- are able to do is
- first thing they do is they increase or enhance the safety for everybody
- involved,
- the responders, the community, and, and potentially the victim.
- Uh, second is it improves operational
- effectiveness because we're making decisions
- with much more information that we couldn't see from the ground.
- And what's benefiting is that we're able to,
- to take advantage of this as an
- aviation program where a lot of agencies can't afford, uh, helicopter
- operations. Now I know I think you all have
- helicopters as well.
- That brings up another question is...
- and I take it, do you integrate how those two work
- together?
- We do, yes. And, and, you know, question, you know, that has been asked, "Well, can
- we just get rid of helicopters?" Obviously, no. Obviously,
- PD has a mission.
- We do a lot of mountain rescues and hoist operations with our helicopters.
- But what we can do is oftentimes we may put a helicopter, um,
- have to bring in a
- helicopter to do some reconnaissance. Well, now the drone can replace that.
- So there... it does, um, fill a void or a need.
- The, the helicopter then can be used for other
- things.
- So we, we just coordinate and collaborate with our police department
- on the
- helicopters. And then on, on an incident, obviously if the helicopter's there
- first, our drone folks show up. Obviously, we operate very closely.
- Remove the helicopter at the incident before we launch the drone.
- Yeah. That's one thing I always say is, is we're not here to replace helicopters.
- There's a, a mission for each.
- Yeah.
- And they can be complementary to each other, but the important part is
- that there
- is coordination in the operations.
- Yep.
- All right. Well, listen. Chief Walker, thank you so much for your time today.
- Uh, we've answered all the questions. You've given some in-
- invaluable information.
- The videos were very insightful, so we can actually see, you know, what it
- means to, to operate with the drones.
- And, uh, again, thank you for all the information
- that we'll share, uh, as we go
- forward. And I'll reach out to you after the
- webinar, and we'll get the information
- and get it ready for people to access.
- All right. Well, thank you for the invitation.
- I, I appreciate having the opportunity to
- talk about it.
- So I hope everybody has a great day.
- From Drone Responders, thanks everybody. We'll see you next time.
Watch Time
55 Mins 22 Secs
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