By Maddie Seiler
The Sentinel
NORTH MIDDLETON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — In the two months since North Middleton Township launched its emergency response drone program, the devices are already putting in the hours.
Over the last eight weeks, drones have aided first responders in missing person searches, police incidents, brush fires and more.
While similar programs exist in Hershey and Lancaster, North Middleton’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Team is a Cumberland County first.
Talk of a drone program at North Middleton Township began a few years ago at the suggestion of a volunteer firefighter who worked in information technology.
“It was like, no way that’s crazy, nobody knows anything about it,” North Middleton Township Fire Chief Andrew Henry said.
The conversation was laid to rest until Henry stepped out of retirement to take on the township’s fire chief role. About a year ago, officials resurrected discussions of the program weighing the logistics, costs and training necessary to get it off the ground.
“I knew it was past due,” Henry said. “This technology has been utilized out west for years now, and it hasn’t touched this area yet.”
It was a late autumn search detail that prompted the freshly formed Unmanned Aircraft Systems Team to take flight.
“We weren’t in service yet,” Henry said. “We were getting everything together, and we received a call ... so we went.”
While the program is based out of North Middleton Fire Company, it’s open to all local fire department members. The team also responds beyond Cumberland County borders, into surrounding spaces like Perry, Dauphin and York counties.
A side effect of the new program is recruitment, Henry said.
“Every fire company, probably in the whole state, is suffering volunteers, as we all know, and ... it’s getting worse every day,” he said. “So this put a different twist on the fire service, as far as a technology side which did bring a whole different group of people out to the table who normally wouldn’t want to fight fire necessarily. They want to get involved in the team, so they’re able to join the team now and not have to go fight fire and give them an option to be involved. So it’s building membership.”
Between 40 and 50 volunteers have signed up to join the team, he said. One orientation brought about 25 new members on board, while a second is expected to reel in others.
While interest grows, implementing the drone program wasn’t always smooth sailing.
After all, not everyone can just walk outside and fly a drone. There’s training required and rules and regulations to follow.
“One of the biggest demands was getting people the training they needed [and] the certifications they needed,” Henry said.
The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Team currently includes about 10 pilots who have received their Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 license, a process that is “pretty involved,” he said.
At least one pilot per drone must be present at the scene, even if that person isn’t physically operating the equipment, Henry said.
Nonpilots should earn a certificate by passing the Recreational UAS Safety Test, or TRUST.
“That’s for recreational users that they can obtain,” Henry said. “It’s a really watered down, scaled-back version of Part 107.”
North Middleton’s team also includes spotters, who stand with the pilot and keep an eye on the drone, and a ground crew that sets up equipment at the scene.
Henry said it takes about five or six people to efficiently operate a drone at an incident.
North Middleton Township’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems program includes two drones, not to mention monitors and other necessary devices. The team dedicated a utility pickup truck and trailer to haul equipment back and forth.
The physical equipment and training required to use it come with a price tag.
Henry estimated the township has invested about $100,000 into the program so far, an amount funded through state money, grants and donations.
Because of the cost and training required, Taylor Griffiths, North Middleton’s local emergency management coordinator, doesn’t believe similar programs will become widespread across local fire companies. Instead, he thinks the Unmanned Aircraft Systems team will operate like other specialized teams across the county.
“You really don’t have a need for five or six Hazmat teams or six or seven SWAT teams, because there’s a lot of training and equipment that goes into having a specialized team like this,” Griffiths said. "... We’ve opened it up to other fire company members. If they want to come be part of our team, the door is open.”
Ever since the propellers began whirring, the township’s potential uses for the technology have continued to skyrocket.
Both drones have been outfitted with all the bells and whistles one might need for an emergency response. The devices can drop rope bags or life rings to someone in a water rescue or delivers an automatic external defibrillator, or AED, to a person in need.
High-intensity light systems can help keep the darkness at bay and a speaker system allows for communication between first responders and someone who is lost, missing or on the scene.
With structure fires, Henry said firefighters usually work their way up to the roof to ventilate the building, often out of sight of emergency crews on the ground.
“We can put [the drone] up, and it can watch the guys on the roof,” he said. “So if guys fall through the roof or there’s a problem, we have the ability to see that in real-time and address it right away.”
Thermal sensors also identify hot spots within a building, showing where fire might be burning inside its walls. The devices can also define the direction of a brush or forest fire, enabling responding fire companies to station members accordingly.
Griffiths said the drones can be programmed to sweep an area for a missing person, track someone based on what they’re wearing or identify heat sources set to the temperature of a human body. A 200-times zoom allows the devices to hone in on spaces from afar.
For example, Henry said a drone hovering over North Middleton Fire Company along Spring Road can provide crystal clear imaging of Vitro Glass Industries in South Middleton Township about 20 miles away.
Drones can also be used to help keep first responders out of harm’s way.
A few weeks ago, the equipment was used to monitor a police incident from several blocks down the road.
“The police department came to us afterward and they thanked us because they said that it kept the police officers and everybody out of harm’s way to save lives that day,” Henry said.
From the emergency management viewpoint, Griffiths said the drones can enter into hazmat incidents and identify chemicals on the scene or scope out damage caused by a flood or a storm.
Now, instead of waiting an hour or two for drones to respond from Hershey or Lancaster, the county has access to the equipment in its own backyard.
“It gives you much more ability to cover things you never could cover before,” Henry said.
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