PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria firefighters will have a new tool to assist them on calls of any sort to begin the new year.
The department recently spent $38,000 to obtain a drone. The drone will have capabilities such as night vision and heat sensors.
Chief Shawn Sollberger said the department had been debating getting one for some time, but seeing one in person from Germantown Hills in May during the BioUrja incident helped make the decision easier.
“They have a very extensive drone team, it peaked our interest at the time. We had already been exploring the concepts of these, because it’s obviously not a new idea,” Sollberger said. “But to see it in motion during that incident and what it gave us in regards to value, being able to make decisions tactically, operationally. It just put us on fast-forward.”
Sollberger said eight firefighters are being trained to be FAA-certified to fly the drones. He adds that two of them are already certified.
Sollberger believes the drone can be used to help spot all sides of a house during a fire. And it can also be used for non-fire purposes.
“We had a kayaker that was on the river and it was an unknown person, unknown last time they had been seen, and it took us almost a day to find her,” Sollberger said. “What we do feel like with something of this magnitude, that we would now eliminate something that potentially takes hours to days to find, now we’re talking about minutes.”
Sollberger added that the department will also look to add a second drone by the end of the year.
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