POWASSAN -- It’s not the most common equipment for a fire department, but officials in Powassan said that adding a new drone to the station was a welcomed addition.

“A drone seemed to be the way to go because neighbouring municipalities had other services that we could use if we needed to,” explained Chief Bill Cox. “I don’t know of anybody that had a drone and an eye in the sky seems to be the way of the future. So lets get on board!”

The fire department has had the drone for about a month so far and it’s already been used in a handful of situations.

“We’ve used it on one house fire we just had to get some aerial scenes of the thing, just to see what the proximities were as far as any other concerns with possibility or higher risk of loss,” Cox said. “We also used it a week and a half ago I believe when we had torrential rain that ended up flooding an intersection with about three feet  of water and we were able to identify where the problems were and get them solved.”

Right now the department has one trained pilot with another member almost finished his training. Cox said that there is usually a pilot and a spotter when the drone is in use. He is hoping to train more members in the future.

“It just happened to work out that a company in North Bay called Safe Site started offering a drone pilots course just this year,” explained Ben Mousseau, the protective services official for the municipality of Powassan and the only trained pilot to date. “Two members of our department got on that course, it was a three day course, so we were able to get trained up pretty quickly.”

Although the drone is fairly new, the plan has been in the works for a while now.

“It was something we started exploring probably late last year. We were considering either getting an all train vehicle or a boat or something like that just to access the rural areas in our municipality,” said Mousseau. “Then, doing some research, we thought this might be a way we can cover all sorts of incidents.”

Priced at $600, officials said that the equipment was actually very reasonable for what it is able to do.

“You know, the first one we had budgeted for originally was $20,000 and after taking the course we were kind of advised ‘don’t go that route just yet.’ I know we had the OPP down here with theirs earlier this summer and they were in the price range of over $100,000 so I don’t think we’re quite prepared for that yet,” explained Cox. “I’m looking at the technology that ours is producing and there seems to be a big difference just price wise, not quality.”

The drone does have some weather restrictions like not being able to fly in rain or heavy winds, but overall it is expected to help save lives.

“It can relay sensitive information to firefighters before they enter a scene and possibly preventing injury or loss of life,” said Mousseau.

“It transmits a signal back to the remote and it displays live video or images onto an iPad that’s connected to the remote. So we get real time footage of what we’re look at,” he adds.

“[A] drone is quite a bit cheaper then a man’s life,” added Cox.

Plans are already underway to help utilize the new equipment. For example, Cox thinks that it will be very beneficial for spring flooding in 2021.

Even though it is going to be an asset, there are specific guidelines that the pilots will need to follow.

“As an emergency service we do have some exemptions,” said Mousseau. “We are allowed to fly over our own scenes, where as, federal aviation law prohibits other people from doing so.”

He adds that safety of people on the ground and other air crafts need to be considered. It’s also important to know if he is flying in a restricted air space or not, something that could be a problem closer to the North Bay airport.

While the drone is unique to the Powassan Fire Department, Cox says they plan to share it if it will help out others.

“The MNR is also aware that we have one,” said Cox. “From what I understand their closest one is Sudbury and you know, as I say, we’ll put it out to the mutual aid group that it’s available if anybody’s looking. If they have a forest fire or they have a big scene they’d like photographed or visuals of to see what other areas are involved.”