![]() ![]() Government Technology is a sister site to Governing. “Hopefully we can keep moving forward and keep improving.” “Our goal is just to improve the service that the fire department delivers and help the customers and the community and our firefighters,” he said. Other departments, like the parks department or the water department, could soon follow with their own initiatives.Īll departments would report to the same governing board. While the fire department was the first to have a drone program, the police department recently went through the same process to establish its own. “We’re going to use that data and continuously revisit that with the operational needs of the fire department and the community to see how we can best serve the community,” he said.Īs Geranen explained, the Phoenix Fire Department has laid the foundation for the structure of creating a drone program as it was the first department in the city to have a program approved. Both groups will be made up of city employees, and the latter of which will include two members of the public as well. In addition, the City Manager’s Office documented the questions received during these meetings from the public to create a Frequently Asked Questions resource.Īnother thing that Geranen said has come out of those meetings was the creation of the Technical, Safety and Privacy subcommittee and the UAS Executive Committee. While there has been skepticism from some in the community, the overall feedback has been about 95 percent positive, Geranen said, crediting the team’s transparency efforts and delivery strategy.įor example, the fire department gave a presentation during the public meetings to show the public exactly what would and would not be involved. However, the drones are not recording any video or storing images at this time. The images that the drone captures will be streamed to a monitor for incident commanders to make informed decisions in emergency scenarios. on August 8, the incident’s 25 th day, the fire had burned 489,287 acres.“One of the biggest things that we try to provide is answering unknowns,” Geranen stated, underlining the importance of aerial, 360-degree visuals of an incident. Hundreds of MegaScale Fire Drones launch within minutes of any confirmed wildfire, and arrive on scene fast, with a maximum arrival time of 20 minutesup to a 60 mile radius from the Fire Drone Base Station. It’s worth noting that, at that point, the Dixie Fire was just one to two acres and spreading slowly. A Fire Drone is simply a pilotless flying device designed to deliver an unlimited rain-like water drop wherever it might be needed. And by the time the airspace was declared safe, it was already dark and Cal Fire had to suspend air operations owing to a lack of nighttime air support. This interference by the rogue drone cost about 45 minutes in firefighting time. A water-dropping helicopter had also started making drops around 5:30 p.m., taking advantage of the area’s proximity to a river.īut just when their efforts were on the verge of success, an unidentified drone appeared over the blaze, forcing Cal Fire to suspend air operations. Thankfully, by that time, Cal Fire air tankers had successfully painted a box of retardant around the fire, limiting its spread. that the ground crew arrived at the out-of-service bridge, only to face a hike of two miles to get to the fire. Meanwhile, the firefighting ground crew had to face the same issues as the PG&E worker while trying to reach the spot of the incident. While waiting for help to arrive, the PG&E employee tried to put out the fire by himself. At that time, the fire was estimated at about 40 feet by 40 feet. Cal Fire received the fire alert from PG&E and a team of firefighters passing across the river from the blaze at almost the same time. The worker discovered a small fire near the ground at the base of the fallen tree. When the technician finally reached the spot where trouble was brewing, it was already 4:30 p.m. But it took the responding technician 9.5 hours to get to the scene of the incident due to challenging terrain and closure of a bridge because of roadworks. ![]() The first indication of trouble came from a 7 a.m. PG&E told regulators last month that the Dixie Fire may have been ignited when a tree fell on a power line and ignited a spark. So now, Federal Probation Judge William Alsup has given utility company PG&E one week to explain its role in potentially starting the Dixie Fire, which along with Fly Fire has destroyed hundreds of structures and forced thousands from their homes in Northern California. What should have remained a minor incident has turned into an unstoppable inferno with a series of delays and obstacles coming together to create the perfect storm.
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