After the tragic fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, experts are suggesting that drones could 'enhance the effective targeting of firefighting efforts on a large-scale blaze and save lives.'

Robert Garbett, founder and chief executive of Drone Major Group, stated, “The use of drones by fire services is nothing new, however, the tragic incident at Notre Dame highlights the importance of this technology in improving the safety of firefighters."

At the Notre Dame fire, DJI drones equipped with delicate yet powerful imaging devices helped to add information, insight and data to the strategy of the crews on the ground.

By utilising images, firefighters remotely identified the most critical areas of fire and where to focus their preservation efforts. 

Robert continued, “Until now, drones in this role have largely been restricted to the use of small unmanned air systems (UAS) for surveillance, observation and intelligence gathering as well as for some larger scale dousing of fires in hard to reach locations.

"As the technology evolves, it is inevitable that fire services will become aware of the power of hybrid drones or, as they are sometimes called, multi-modal systems."

Currently, technology is still quite a way off from widespread adoption, but Robert believes it is 'inevitable' that more advanced drones will be used for this function in the future. 

"If we have learned anything from the tragic incident at Notre Dame it is that that firefighting drones, in combination of the heroism of firefighters, are the future of fire safety."

Original Source
Envirotec