Horry County Fire Rescue drone a watchful eye in the sky

Horry County Fire Rescue has a new drone, and the sky will be the limit for investigations and searches once the department completes the process to obtain a license to use it from the Federal Aviation Administration.

“It a great little tool that’s easily deployable,” said Capt. Matthew Rice with HCFR, who has been involved in the FAA certification process with the drone.

The HCFR fire investigation unit got the DJI Phantom 3-model drone about a month ago for $1,200 and spent a little extra on the device’s high resolution camera. A total of $2,000 was spent on the model and its components, along with an iPad that shows live footage from the airborne drone to the operator below.

Rice said the price isn’t high when considering the cost of their trucks and other equipment and when weighing how much it will help with investigations and searches.

“The potential return on a small investment like that is huge for us,” he said.

HCFR officials see a lot of possibilities with the drone and made the decision to purchase one in their annual budget; officials hope to wrap up the FAA licensing process in May.

“We’re hoping it’s going to enhance us in ways we haven’t even thought of yet,” Rice said.

Three people, including Rice, are able to operate the drone, but the unit will likely train more staff members to use it.

Once the drone can take flight for official use, it will soar no higher than 400 feet as per FAA regulations, while it collects video and images of searches, large-scale fires and incidents, and surveys floodwaters and storm damage.

The drone is equipped with a high-resolution camera that takes 13-megapixel pictures. It also has a mapping device to document areas as it covers them so investigators can avoid mistakenly going over areas that have already been searched.

It also has a GPS system and a failsafe that will send it back to its original starting point if a problem occurs while in flight, Rice said.

HCFR drone operators will be able to take flight within about five minutes once they arrive on scene. Weather patterns and safety issues are checked and the drone can then be launched as it soars with 25 minutes of battery life. Operators will have multiple charged battery packs with them and can switch out old batteries as needed, Rice said.

The device isn’t meant to replace manned aircrafts, and certainly won’t fly near them or close to airports as per FAA regulations, but it can conveniently fly when aircrafts can’t, according to Rice.

He hopes the device will be flying by late spring. The FAA requires the department to have a certified license to operate the drone, but doesn’t require each operator have a specific license, Rice said.

“We’re going through the FAA process right now. We’ve submitted our application and we’re processing paperwork. It just takes time. Hopefully, by the beginning or middle of May we can put this in service,” Rice said.

The process of getting the necessary FAA certification is a rigorous one. First, HCFR had to have a county lawyer write a letter to the FAA certifying them as public rescue service. Officials also had to write and submit paperwork outlining their need for the device. Next, the department received a temporary training license and submitted more documentation of the work they’ve done and a log of flight hours.

Inspections and more paperwork will be done, and once it’s all processed the department will be ready to launch. They will also regularly submit flight logs and paperwork to the FAA as they use the drone in the field.

The Myrtle Beach Police Department also has drones, but they aren’t in service yet as the department is in the process of obtaining permits, training officers, and getting the proper regulation in place, according to Lt. Joey Crosby, spokesman for the department.

Murrells Inlet-Garden City Beach Fire Department got a drone last year, but they are also still working on obtaining the necessary FAA regulation to use it.

Other fire departments in the state have been toying with the idea of getting them, but so far the South Carolina Fire Association hasn’t seen a lot of departments with drones in flight, according to Jason Pope, deputy director with the association.

He said the devices have a “ton of potential” to be great assets on scenes, however.

“Anything that gives a firefighter a better situational awareness is a good thing,” he said.

Pope also said it’s hard to say how things will go in the field with them because they’re still so new, but said they certainly could bring a lot to investigations.

Horry County, Conway police and North Myrtle Beach Public Safety Department have no plans to acquire any drones, officials said.

However, HCFR plans to partner with agencies and bring their drone to help out when needed.

“We intend to make it available to other organizations in the area that may not have one,” Rice said.

Going forward, Rice said the department would like to have a licensed pilot in their unit because that would help loosen certain FAA restrictions and enable them to do more with the drone.

The department is also trying to address every concern they can think of before taking flight and adding another eye in the sky.

“Public perception is always a concern. This isn’t out there to spy on people. This is out there to enhance public safety in emergency situations or investigations. It’s not a Big Brother’s watching scenario or anything like that,” Rice said.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Horry County Fire Rescue drone a watchful eye in the sky."