The Lunenburg Fire Department spent Wednesday night training with a new drone they will use to assist with fires and search and rescue.
Trucks gathered in the parking lot of the Lunenburg War Memorial Arena as firefighters trained with the drone.
The Lunenburg Fire Department purchased the drone with memorial funds that had been donated in honour of the Kendall Black who was formerly a Deputy Cheif with the department.
Chief Darren Romkey says some firefighters also went to Dr. Drone in Darthmouth for additional training.
“The training went well and I think most people got the hang of it pretty quickly, so it should be able to help us out very soon,” Romkey said.
First, the department will need to get permission from various government agencies that govern drone usage. Once that is done Romkey expects the drone to be put into service immediately.
Drones are becoming more common tools for fighting fire according to Romkey.
He says during forest fire seasons like the ones we’re currently experiencing it will be used to scout fires, their trajectories and other information that can be used to assist.
It also has applications for residential fires and search and rescue.
“For residential fires, we can use the thermal camera to find where heat is building up, then we can cut our ventilation hole right where it needs to be, said Romkey. He adds, ” This drone can cover kilometres in a matter of seconds so it’s going to massively help to locate missing people.”
In just the past week there have been three forest fires in relatively close proximity to Lunenburg with fires in Springfield, Blockhouse and Argyle.
