New York’s Bravest, the FDNY, is the second largest fire department in the world and the largest in the United States.  The New York Fire Department employs more than 11,000 uniformed firefighters.  These officers serve and protect over 8.5 million people in a 302 square mile area daily.  Because of the dense population and building structures in Manhattan being an FDNY officer is one of the hardest, most dangerous jobs.  Finding tools to help firefighters better do their jobs while minimizing risks is crucial.  Since March 6, 2017, the FDNY began using a new tool to do just that, a firefighting drone.

The 8lb quadrocopter that cost the city $85,000 proved it’s worth when it was called into action to a four alarm fire in the Bronx.  20 families had to leave their homes behind while 1 civilian and 5 officers were later treated for injuries.  The fire that was raging through the 6 story building was complicated when the roof began to loose stability.  But, because of the data provided by the drone, the fire chief was able to relay precise, life saving information to the firefighters on the roof of the building.

The drone is equipped with a high definition infrared camera that provides officers with a critical birds eye view of a situation.  Traditionally firefighters relay critical information thorough a radio system that uses instinct, experience, and trust.  With the live feed provided by the drone’s camera the information being relayed to officers can be exact.  The incident commander at the March 6th fire, Deputy Assistant Chief Dan Donoghue said, “This fire was helped by our drone.  The roof started to fail and we had a lot of great radio reports but that’s only verbal, so with the drone we had good visual pictures and it really helped us make decisions to put this fire out and keep our members safe.”

Today the FDNY continues to use drones to aid in 2 alarm and up fires.  The way it works is once a fire is called in the unit along with a trained FDNY drone operator rush to the site.  While en route a call is placed to the FAA to assure clearance for the drone flight.  By the time the drone operator, in it’s separate vehicle, reaches the site the FAA approval has been granted and the drone can be deployed.  The drone is then launched from the cab of the operator’s truck while remaining tethered to a cable.  The cable tethering the drone serves several purposes.

By using a tethered drone the operator does not have to worry so much about flight maintenance in a harsh ever changing environment.  The drone can be easily controlled, regardless of the building height or weather conditions.  There is also no worry of radio frequency interference that is common in city settings.  The data collected by the drone can be live streamed to the ground crew without a wireless connection.  The cable also provides the drone with an unlimited battery supply.  This removes the issue of a fire taking longer than 30-40 minutes to put out, which is about half the life span of a drone battery.

As drone technology grows and FAA regulations shift the FDNY will continue growing their drone program.  This may include the use of un-tethered drones as well as ground robotics.  The FDNY will take whatever means available to help protect civilians and firefighters.  Drones have proven to be just such a tool to do this.