Reconnaissance in case of danger

Drones as new firefighters in the fire department

The six drone pilots also include all the platoon commanders of the Klagenfurt professional fire department.(Bild: Stadtkommunikation)

The Klagenfurt professional fire department now has six "pilots". Drones can be used to better investigate dangerous situations.

"The drone is the extended arm of the incident commander," explains Wolfgang Germ, Deputy Fire Director of the Klagenfurt professional fire department. "It's a new era and a new tactic, making us one of the first fire services in Carinthia to use drones. There are divers, high-altitude rescuers, flight assistants and now drone operators."

Search operations and forest fires
It took just under three months to train and test the six drone pilots, including Germ and the platoon commanders, at Austro Control. The drones travel in the command vehicle with the operations commander. "They are primarily used to search for missing persons, but also to investigate forest fires," says Germ. "But especially in summer, we can quickly identify potential victims of swimming accidents at the lido from a bird's eye view."

Operations in coordination with Austro Control
The camera provides a 360-degree view and the battery lasts for 30 minutes. "However, we carry several spare batteries in the command vehicle," says Germ. "There are also plans to purchase another drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera." Operations are reported immediately to Austro Control so that no accidents occur. "The drone's biggest enemy is the helicopter - the turbulence can cause it to crash," explains Germ. "If, as with the forest fire on Falkenberg, the police helicopter helps with the fire, the drone is landed immediately."