Firefighters in County Carlow to introduce drone fleet
The fleet will provide a range of support for emergency situations across the Irish county
Carlow County Fire & Rescue Service in Ireland has announced that it will launch a fleet of drones to support its operations.
The drone fleet, which is equipped with thermal imaging cameras, was officially launched on 7 November at Carlow Fire Station.
The uncrewed aircraft will operate from stations in Carlow Town, Bagenalstown, Tullow, and Hacketstown, and will be used for a range of emergency situations, including building fires, vehicle fires and wildfires, road traffic collisions, river rescues, and severe weather events such as flooding.
Ben Woodhouse, the county’s Acting Chief Fire Officer, in a statement to the local Carlow Nationalist newspaper, said: “We are looking forward to our fire crews using the drones, gathering as much information as possible, and getting a greater operational overview of a situation to support their decision-making on the fire ground.”
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) unveiled its new drone roadmap last month.
Oliver Cuenca
Oliver Cuenca is a Junior Editor at the Voyageur Group. He was previously a News and Features Journalist for the rail magazine IRJ until 2021, and studied MA Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. His favourite helicopter is the AW169 – the workhorse of the UK air ambulance sector! He also led the creation of Waypoint: The AirMed&Rescue podcast, serving as its Production Editor and co-host.