Back to SearchDIEPPE (N.-B.) — The Dieppe Fire Department (DFD) can now count on a new recruit: a drone.
«To my knowledge we are the first fire department in the Maritimes to use a drone on a fire scene. This will improve our tactical decisions during emergencies and will ultimately offer a better service to our community», said Marc Cormier, Division Chief.
During an emergency, the drone will be deployed to predict direction of fire travel in a large structure fire, or during a forest fire. The same idea applies to incidents involving vehicles, trains or buildings that transport or store hazardous materials. The drone could be deployed and used to gather critical information on placards during hazmat spills, or hazmat fires in lieu of deploying firefighters to complete this task. An aerial view of the spill, fire plume and direction of smoke travel during such incidents would also assist the Incident Commander with evacuation priorities.
Division Chief Cormier says that the drone can be deployed relatively fast, covers a lot of ground and offers a view that was previously not available to firefighters.
In a non-emergency setting, the drone could be used during building inspections to locate gas lines and ventilation units on roofs during pre-fire planning. Also during fire investigations to assist investigators in determining where the fire traveled from and offer a bird`s eye view of the extent of damage caused.
Last but not least, the drone will allow instructors to provide the firefighters with video of a training evolution to be used for critique purposes.
«The possibilities are endless when you begin introducing equipment such as this into the fire service. People are used to seeing fire trucks on a fire scene but now when they look up, they will see a flying object with four propellers and a camera. That, to me, is pretty amazing», said Cormier.
DFD operates under strict City of Dieppe guidelines relating to the Privacy Act. The use of the drone is strictly for operational, inspection and investigation purposes and any other information that may be collected during its use will be protected, treated as confidential and destroyed if not required.
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Media invitation: Members of the media are invited to a drone demonstration on Friday, January 23 by Marc Cormier. Fore details or to RSVP call Nathalie Haché, 877.5020 or nathalie.hache@dieppe.ca before noon on Friday.
Media Contact:
Nathalie Haché
Communications Officer, City of Dieppe
506.877.5020
nathalie.hache@dieppe.ca