Drones are gaining more and more applications as time goes by. Over the past few years, they have taken all uniformed and emergency services by storm. Thanks to the fact that drones can reach places inaccessible to larger flying vehicles, they often prove to be the only solution, such as in the case of searching for missing persons in the woods or mountains.
The pioneer in the use of drones for rescue purposes is, of course, North America. Both Canada and the US were among the first countries to introduce widespread drones for emergency services. Canadian police are using unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with thermal imaging cameras to find victims of car accidents in which cars fall off the road or that occur in wooded areas. Thanks to thermal imaging, it is possible to quickly identify the victim, reach him, and then give him the necessary medical attention.
Similarly, drones are used by rescue services operating on the water, in the case of a significant distance of a person from the shore, a drone is harnessed into action, which, rising to a significant height, is able to track a person who may be drowning at that very moment. By quickly identifying and recognizing the problem, rescuers are able to reach the person in need of help in just a few minutes.
In Poland, the first attempts to use drones for rescue purposes were started by GOPR. A few years ago, a special program was established to provide units with unmanned aerial vehicles. They were to be included in the system of planning and controlling the course of rescue operations. The reasons for deploying drones were to improve rescue operations and reduce costs. Previously, the GOPR used only rescue helicopters, however, these had two major drawbacks-they could not reach certain hard-to-reach places, and any action using them was very expensive.
How GOPR uses drones? Unmanned aerial vehicles such as DJI Matrice 200 are mainly used to quickly scan a large swath of terrain in order to shorten the rescue operation time as much as possible and help find a lost person whose body may just be cooling down. Rescue drones, of course, are not without their drawbacks-they cannot soar to such significant heights as helicopters and are more susceptible to adverse weather conditions. In addition, they are unable to penetrate the treetops in densely wooded areas. However, these disadvantages cannot obscure the colossal advantage of the drone-the simplicity of operation, so that any rescuer can master the basics of flying in just a few hours. Operating a rescue drone also doesn't require special qualifications or credentials.
Another popular use of rescue drones is rescue operations carried out after disasters such as building collapses. This is where drones gain an advantage over a rescuer with a dog, in terms of small size and great maneuverability in difficult conditions. The same happens after all kinds of natural disasters: avalanches, hurricanes.
Perhaps in just a few years, drones will be in use by fire, police and emergency services and will help save many lives. What is certain is that rescue should gain completely new opportunities through the use of this type of equipment, and rescue operations will become easier and cheaper to carry out.