OAK ISLAND, N.C. (WECT) – In the case of an emergency, minutes can be the difference between life and death. That’s why crews in one Brunswick County beach town are using new technology to protect the public.
It’s the first year that Oak Island is using drones as part of its search and rescue team. Crews have already used it this season to save a swimmer in distress.
In some cases, the drone can respond to an emergency quicker than it would take for a person to swim out and save someone.
The drone uses infrared technology to locate people in the water.
It can drop rescue tubes, including ones that are self-inflatable and even carry a tether line out to a swimmer to bring them back to shore.
Lee Price is Oak Island’s fire chief. He says these drones are giving his crew a new perspective on water rescues.
“It can see things that you can’t see from standing on the beach. It can hover over the person, it can look through the infrared and find the dot where they are. It is a very advanced tool for finding and rescuing people,” Price said.
Price says the hope is they won’t have to use the drone to save anyone, but now that tourist season is here, he says there will be more people in the water. Even on the calmest of days, the water is dangerous, he says.
“We post the flags, we fly them all around town to let people know what the rip currents are. Even on a green flag day it can be dangerous, so you have to be cautious about that,” Price said.
Price says the fire department is working to train 6 firefighters on how to operate the drone.
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