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Emergency Management Using Drones

Usage is starting to increase.

This is but one example of an emergency management agency beginning to use a drone, see Drone Brings New Capability to Local Emergency Management.

This is what the future holds, one agency, one drone at a time. As there are more success stories of drones being used, more and more agencies will add the capability to their toolbox of equipment. 

One local emergency manager who has a personal drone provided a demonstration for his parent fire department the day following a big building fire for surveying the damages and doing an initial post-fire size-up. They were impressed with the images that could be obtained from the air. 

I have several suggestions for you. One is that purchasing a more capable drone might be a good option. Spending upward of $5K is not too much to spend, but before you put a drone or UAV that costs that much into the hands of a novice, it would be better to have a "training drone" that is more of a hobbyist style of drone.

One of the most popular drone makers is DJI. Their higher-end drone is Spreading Wings S900. And their higher-end Phantom 4 is more for the accomplished hobbyist.

 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.