5 Reasons Incident Response Needs a Weather Station: BONUS
With their ability to improve situational awareness, DRONES are becoming increasingly valuable to incident response. Also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), drones are used for package delivery such as defibrillators, search and rescue, and communications. During Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath in 2017, drones were deployed to assess the extent of damage, presence of hazardous materials, and search for survivors. Last month, two teens stranded off the coast of Australia were rescued by a drone, which was able to launch a self-inflating raft into the water in under two minutes. Fire Chief Jonathan McMahan of College Station, TX reported a recent incident: “Fast moving urban interface wildland fire in south College Station yesterday … 10 exposed houses protected, and fire stopped close to an apartment complex. 2 fire department drones in the air providing immediate situational awareness to the incident command team.”* Weather conditions are a critical factor in drone operation. Acce