ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Drone technology is being used in new ways by first responders. The Saint Charles County Ambulance District will be host to personnel from across the state this week for some special training.
"It's really changed how first responders respond to calls," said John Yeast, Director of Technology in St. Charles County Ambulance District. "It gives them situational awareness from a perspective that they've never really had before, which is probably the single biggest advantage that the technology has brought to first responders."
The use of the drones by the department isn't just for things like taking photos and videos. It also helps assist in carrying medical supplies, drop floatation devices, carry rescue lines across a body of water, and more.
"It keeps responders having to go downrange if you will to be more closely exposed to those kinds of risks where they can get that situational awareness and that technology view remotely much more safer," said Yeast.
Yeast said that originally, they launched (no pun intended) the program slowly, but the technology really showed it's value when a E-3 tornado came in 2021 that struck Defiance, Missouri.
"We were able to deploy some of the thermal technology we had at the time, searching for victims potentially that were out, but also help first responders get access into that area," said Yeast. "We use that technology to be able to find ingress and egress because roads were closed with power lines or trees. And so from a very high level view, we were able to quickly figure out what some of those access points were."
One of the features that has impressed Yeast the most is the ability for the drone to map out an accident scene.
"One of the things that the technology has really been proven to grow is doing mapping and that's something in this area we've not had the ability to have a lot of training on," said Yeast. "Whether or not you're mapping an accident scene, mapping a hazardous material scene or just various scenes that first responders find themselves in, and that 3-D mapping can give a tremendous amount of detail in a short amount of time."
Yeast says the cost of the drones varies, from smaller aircrafts with less capabilities worth a couple thousand dollars to larger ones that could cost in the $50,000 to $100,000 ranges. However, he also adds the investment to using drones to goes more than just buying them.
"There's the training that goes into it, the manpower to run the program, it does take a lot of investment, not just financially but time as well into having a successful program," said Yeast. "It's very important to understand (FAA Guidelines). Again, we operate under some similar requirements as man pilots."
Among the guidelines pilots like Yeast have to fall under include having to take a knowledge based test, operate under certain and mitigating risk and and making sure they are operating in the proper airspace.
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