By Matt Petry
The Salem News
SALISBURY, Mass. — The Fire Department’s newest tool has people looking up in the sky after firefighter Ben Krafton recently returned from his drone training sessions.
“It’s going to be good for search-and-rescue, brush fires, looking for hot spots,” Krafton said. “I think it’ll come into play when we got fishermen out on the jetties when they’re not supposed to be — you can kind of fly out there with the speaker.”
Salisbury Fire Chief Scott Carrigan said the department purchased a DJI Matrice 30T drone earlier this year thanks to a state Department of Environmental Protection grant as part of its oil spill response program.
“We received a total of $14,233. The drone cost about $13,000,” Carrigan said.
The drone includes infrared vision, the ability to pin locations and provide directions to them, and sensors that prevent collisions.
With four foldable, fan-blade wings, the drone is a little larger than a football when compact.
“Chief kind of said, ‘I’ll let you figure it out,’” Krafton said.
He said he has had a longstanding passion for the technology.
“I’ve been personally flying drones for about 10 years,” Krafton said. “For the department, I had to get my license and probably put in 30 hours for that.”
He also received search-and-rescue training.
“That was another 18 hours of hands-on and kind of getting used to the software,” Krafton said.
The drone comes with a briefcase for transportation, along with a separate case to hold four battery packs.
“We haven’t used it yet, it just went into service so we haven’t really got an actual system down for it yet,” Krafton said.
He said it could be helpful at the beach this summer during swimmer distress calls.
Krafton expects beachgoers will be able to look to the sky and often see the drone.
“It’ll be easier to just fly that out real quick and see what we got,” Krafton said.
For now, Krafton is the only member of the department trained to operate the drone with select members of the Fire and Police departments expected to receive training later.
“It was a regional grant, so we have to reach out to other towns as well,” Krafton said.
Salisbury joins a growing number of communities using drones for public safety, including Amesbury and Merrimac.
In March, the Amesbury Police Department used its drone to help locate a 3-year-old Great Dane, Jenni, in a swamp after she was missing for more than 24 hours.
Krafton said he has been in talks with the Amesbury Police Department about coordinating efforts.
“We’re kind of talking right now about putting training together with all the departments in the area so we can work as a team,” he said.
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