BILLINGS, Mont. -- In 2018 the Billings Fire Departments HAZMAT team applied for a $300,000 grant from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to establish the city's Public Safety Drone Program. After four years, BFD finally received the funds to purchase new high-tech drones and took them out for a test run Thursday afternoon.
BFD Engineer, Mark Soulberg said the fire department did have drones in the past, but the new ones have better cameras and will be more efficient when out in the field.
"It's a force multiplier for us, we are sometimes resource-limited on big incidents, and by using one of these drones behind me we are able to get a better size of what's going on we can keep track of our people and we can identify needs and respond to them more quickly," said Soulberg
Billings Fire Department, the Police Department, and the city's Public Works will have access to the drones. Billings is one of six fire departments in that state that received $50,00 through the state's Homeland Security grant to cover the drones, training, and pilot licensing.
