On Wednesday, July 16, Mr. Eddie Gorrie of Fotokite visited the Ridge VFD to provide a demo of their Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), the Fotokite Sigma. The Fotokite Sigma provides first responders with elevated mission-critical situational awareness on incident scenes by providing a safe, easy, and reliable way to gain aerial perspectives on operations.

Mr. Gorrie discussed and demonstrated the many valuable uses for the tethered drone in the fire service, such as during Fire/Emergency Response, Search & Rescue, and Post-Fire Inspection & Monitoring. The Fotokite Sigma can be configured to deploy from a transport case (allowing multi-apparatus and field use) or rooftop box (integrated into a Command vehicle or specialty apparatus).

Fotokite's tethered drones deploy, fly, and land at the push of a button, requiring no piloting skills or FAA Part 107 certification. Using ground power, the UAS is capable of unlimited flight duration and can operate effectively in adverse weather conditions including rain, snow, and sustained winds exceeding 28 mph. It provides secure dual video streaming to the ground via advanced low-light and thermal cameras. Integrated 360-degree scanning functionality offers immediate comprehensive situational awareness at incident scenes.

The officers and members of the Ridge VFD would like to thank Mr. Gorrie for his time. We are very interested in adding this technology to our inventory and have begun researching funding opportunities. Any chance to better serve our community is worth pursuing.