Colvill Fire Department acquires new drone for search and rescue

The Colvill Area Volunteer Fire Department (CAVFD) has a new high-tech tool for search and rescue and other first response efforts. It’s a DJI Matrice drone, donated by a local resident who previously used the drone in conjunction with his agricultural land in North Dakota.

The department also purchased an infrared camera system for the drone to aid in firefighting and search and rescue operations.

Colvill Fire Chief Frank Newman was motivated to acquire the infrared camera after seeing a similar system used to find a missing child lost in a Wisconsin corn field.

“They found her in the night because of a thermal camera, and said had she not been found, she might not have survived the night because it was so cold,” said Newman. “The department all agreed that if we have a drone we should be able to do the same thing.”

Jordan Ekroot is a volunteer with the CAVFD and the only licensed drone pilot among Cook County’s 10 fire departments, to the best of their knowledge.

“If I have line of sight it can go about four miles range,” said Ekroot. “So you could cover 16 square miles essentially if you have perfect line of sight.”

The drone’s 4K camera can overlay onto the infrared image to better differentiate between a dog and a human, for example.

“If you’re looking at a vehicle accident and there was a tanker involved, the thermal image would catch the level of the fluid in the tank,” said Ekroot. “The 4k image overlaid over that would pick up the placards and you could get a clear view of what’s in the tank.”

Chief Newman sees other applications for increasing firefighter safety using the drone, such as the recent laundromat fire in Grand Marais. “We could have flown over it to look for hot spots so firefighters don’t have to get too close to it,” said Newman.

“It totally will increase safety because nobody’s going to have to go in to check those things out,” Newman said.