Fire service use of drones is evolving, but needs trust and support of communities to succeed

Fire and rescue services were early adopters of drones almost 10 years ago. This innovative technology, which delivered our own aerial imagery on demand, arrived at a time when the incident command manual was being overhauled. This combination of improved situational awareness and an improved understanding of the need for situational awareness was fortunate. Better situational awareness enables better decisions, which in turn deliver better outcomes for the communities we serve.

In addition to providing situational awareness, competent FRS pilots can identify hazards, casualties, fire spread and wider incident issues because they know what to look for and what the Incident Commander needs to know. This same footage can dramatically improve public communications and the effectiveness of the debriefing process.

Last year saw the introduction of rapid wide area thermal mapping (aimed mainly at large areas of wildfire or floods), indoor drones to check inside buildings and the first sonar equipped underwater rescue capability. This year will see the demonstration of long-range heavy lift drones (Windracers Ultras) capable of searching for, identifying and attacking wildfires in swarm formations. Un-crewed Ground Vehicles (often called firefighting robots) will also be deployed into regular FRS operations in 2024. 

Making the business case

The business case for introducing new technologies is a difficult one to write. Being an early adopter in any industry opens up a plethora of issues and introduces new risks. When you are operating in a traditional organisation, within a culture unused to uncertainty or failure, these issues are magnified. Spending public money on what people used to call ‘toys’ needs to be justified. It takes a strong business case, strong leadership and a high degree of trust. It also means spending more than the organisations buying after you, and they will have the benefit of hindsight and your shared learning. 

Enhancing firefighter safety

The main benefits to the sector are twofold: firefighter safety and productivity. A single drone team can be deployed to much greater effect than large numbers of firefighters in the right scenario. This could be providing firewatch over the latter stages of a wildfire or taking temperature readings of a cylinder from a safe distance.

A team of two firefighters operating an underwater robot has already proven to be a far quicker and safer way of searching and recovering submerged casualties. A crew of firefighters equipped with a firefighting robot can now deliver nearly 4000lpm of water inside a commercial building while standing well outside the risk area. An increase in capability also comes with a reduction in firefighter risk; a more effective fire and rescue service; and can lead to reductions in the human and environmental impacts of incidents. 

There are operational areas where we are approaching our limits of capability. Consider firefighting in very high-risk areas such as nuclear sites or trying to rescue someone caught immediately downstream of a weir. There is only so much human endurance will accept, and only so much human risk we can justify.

Yes, we have introduced technology over the past 50 years to mitigate these risks which have incrementally improved capability, but every so often a technology emerges that is truly revolutionary such as the Breathing Apparatus set. Drones and robots have had a similarly revolutionary impact upon modern warfare, rendering many defence capabilities obsolete overnight. We must continue to harness this revolutionary technology for the good of firefighters and society. 

Support and trust of communities

At the heart of the FRS operation is the relationship with our communities. As we move into areas such as Drone as a First Responder (DFR), we will need to take our communities with us. Our high level of regard in the community means we have the highest level of public perceptions for the use of drone technology, and the very best use case – saving life. This support and trust cannot be taken lightly and can be quickly eroded if the technology is deployed too quickly and without public consultation. Privacy and accountability are important to us all, especially when such an intrusive technology is deployed. One single badly managed event could change everything. 

Drone as a First Responder

The sector is well placed to deploy DFR systems because we continue to place our physical resources according to risk rather than volume of calls. We have fire stations still positioned at the centre of each community where other agencies have moved out. Combine these physical assets with the existing command & control links into every station, and incident command software that can now move imagery between assets. We even have drill towers with antennas.

This infrastructure can allow ‘Drone in a Box’ solutions to be launched via FRS control from the nearest fire station. The imagery will be shared with the control operator and responding crews. The drone can even launch using the pre-alert system while the control room pperator handles the call, providing situational awareness to them and other responders before the first appliance arrives.  

Weather remains a key factor

Behind the rush to acquire and deploy drone technologies across the UK, some detailed studies are beginning to emerge. It is obvious that cost benefits are being hit by real world problems such as the U.K. weather and airspace regulations. Take medical delivery trials. To move small items from A to B is clearly quicker by drone. If the weather is bad, you still need to move the items, and you will likely need to drive them there. Two transport systems instead of one. For the FRS sector we need recognise these real-world limits and work with developers to improve resilience. We also need to work with regulators to maintain safe access to the skies.  

Integration into operations

Bringing in new technology is not without its challenges. After nearly a decade, I’ve noticed some fire officers still choose to avoid the aerial imagery being provided, and there are several reasons for this. As we move to introduce un-crewed ground and water vehicles more widely, we need to better understand how we integrate these new technologies into operations and into the culture of the organisation. Integration is the area I’ll be concentrating on this year, with a new National Fire Chiefs Council Drone and Robotics strategy to better help coordinate the sectors efforts. 

For more articles about drones, check out Mike Edward’s piece about Herotech8’s Drones in a box solution and Stuart Lawless’s Comment piece where he provides an update on the National Police Chiefs’ Council strategy for use of drones in policing.