Town council on Monday agreed to spend more than $80,000 for a new drone and information technology (IT) upgrades at Grimsby Fire Station 2 and Regional Training Centre on Mountain Road.
“We actually have used drones in both Lincoln and Grimsby for a number of years now,” said Greg Hudson, Niagara West Fire and Emergency Services chief.
He said the new drone will have updated infrared capabilities that will be useful when fighting building fires.
“We can fly over and see exactly what’s on fire,” Hudson said. “Sometimes large buildings, you see smoke and you don’t know exactly where the fire is coming from necessarily, so this allows us to pinpoint the hot spot overhead very, very quickly.”
Hudson added the infrared capability will allow firefighters to help find people lost in wooded areas or injured crash victims injured who may have wondered away from the scene.
To support the new drone, Hudson said one of the department’s pickup trucks will be equipped with drone operating and monitoring equipment.
“Operationally, the key to success is being able to deploy it as quickly as we can, so if we have it on a truck ready to go, all charged up, we can just drive to the scene and in some cases we don’t have to drive it to the scene,” said Hudson, who noted 12 Grimsby and Lincoln firefighters have Transport Canada advanced drone pilot licences.
In addition, the new drone has the ability to carry small items.
“If somebody’s floundering out on the water on Lake Ontario, we can actually fly over them and drop a flotation device to them,” said Hudson.
He said the drone has a loudspeaker that enables emergency officials to communicate directly with people and crews at the scene of a fire or rescue.
“The technology is really growing.”
Hudson said drones give firefighters real-time, aerial views of fire scenes, water rescues, rope rescues, hazardous materials spills and other emergencies that enable them to quickly assess a situation and identify potential hazards.
“Drones can transmit live video and data to command centres, providing firefighters with up-to-the-minute information about the fire’s progress.”
He said the DJI Matrice drone the fire service is getting was made in China or Malaysia, but was purchased in stock from a Canadian supplier.
Delivery is expected in June.
The fire station improvements include upgrades to computer, audio visual and other equipment.
In addition to being a fire station and regional training centre, Hudson said the upper Grimsby facility is the town’s designated emergency operations centre.
Funding for the drone and fire station upgrades will come from the town’s fire equipment replacement reserve.
Delight Davoli, Grimsby Ward 1 councillor and finance committee chair, told council the town had budgeted for a provincial grant to cover the fire equipment costs but has not heard back.
Davoli said if the town gets the money, it will be put back into the fire equipment replacement reserve.