Published on November 19, 2018

The Menlo Park Fire Protection Districts UAS/Drone Team is working for the Butte County Sheriffs Department and directly with our public safety partners at the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department (ALCO SO), Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department (COCO SO), Union City Police Department and San Francisco Police Department providing aerial damage assessment mapping for the City of Paradise, Migalia and other areas of Butte County using small Drones.

The Fire Districts 8 member Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Drone Team spent Friday flying over the City of Paradise along with the 12 member ALCO SO Team, 8 member COCO SO Team and 2 member Union City PD Team. The group is part of a multi-agency Public Safety Aerial Mapping Team that has also provided this important data to the Cities of Santa Rosa and Redding after major fires ravaged their communities.
 

Pictures Above – Menlo Fire UAS/Drone Team Members Captain Jason Martin, Engineer Kevin White and UAS Intern Jack McCandles fly over the devastated City Paradise Friday. The images will provide high resolution aerial damage imagery and maps for the City and Butte County Sheriff’s Office prior to re-population and clean-up – Credit Menlo Fire

Fire Chief Schapelhouman said “these specialized teams can provide high resolution aerial images and maps that will be used for a variety of relief effort purposes, provide situational awareness to incident commanders and ground crews, as well as expedite search and recovery efforts. In past disasters, such as the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa and Carr Fire in Redding, the data was made available on the local County law enforcement and City websites for the public to use as a damage overview. It allowed  people and their insurance companies to zoom in or out and also take a 360 degree look around multiple areas. The mosaics gave viewers the full impact of the totality of circumstance, or the big picture view of what occurred during those terrible disasters”.

The Fire District and ALCO SO both started their programs in 2014, are FAA Certified, now enjoy significant support and have advanced programs and experienced Drone Pilots. As early arrivers using Drones for public safety purposes, both initially struggled in different ways but have come into their own as they have proven their important worth during emergency operations, over and over again. Being in the center of the technology and innovation capital of the world doesn’t hurt either.

ALCO SO regularly uses Drones for accidents and crime scenes but is well known for its work during the Ghost Ship Fire in Oakland and most recently during a string of arson fires in structures under construction that have occurred in the Alameda County. The Fire District uses Drones for grass and structure fires, flooding and water rescues and recoveries in the San Francisco Bay. They have partnered with the US Coast Guard to pilot Drone anti-confliction strategies with rescue and domestic aircraft over the Bay and in one of the busiest air corridors in the World. The Fire District is also the sponsor of one of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces (California Task Force 3) and used Drones in Texas and Florida after last year’s Hurricanes struck both, they were also called upon to assist with tracking fire behavior at night in Yosemite National Park during a timber fire which threatened the community of Wawona and the Giant Sequoia’s.

Key to both groups is their relationship with manufacturer DJI and software experts at Scholar Farms. “Romeo Durscher with DJI and Greg Crutsinger (PhD) with Scholar Farms have provided critical technical support for both programs and all three major fires. “We couldn’t have done what we’ve done, or produced what we did without them”, Chief Schapelhouman said. Both public safety agencies are flying Phantom 4 Pro DJI Drones and using Drone Deploy and PIX 4D Software for mapping flying under 300 feet.

Finally, Jack McCandles is just what the Fire District has needed in a UAS/Drone Program Intern. He is a pleasure to work with, extremely intelligent and his youthful curiosity and ability to improvise, adapt and solve problems, that usually has the older firefighters scratching their heads, makes Jack such a welcome and critical member of the Menlo Fire Drone Team. To his great and well deserved credit, he is featured in this month’s Popular Mechanics and is the future of Public Safety Technology solutions that will help to protect life, property and the environment.  https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a25008226/drones-future-firefighting/

On Sunday, November 18, the eight member Menlo UAS/Drone Team will capture aerial imagery and damage assessments for the community of  Migalia. Fire Chief Schapelhouman said “the guys know that this one hits close to home for me, one of our Engine crews out on a Strike Team already sent me the street view of my parents destroyed former home (both passed away several years ago). It felt like getting punched in the stomach when I saw it, but then you immediately think about everyone else who lost so much more, including their lives. Both Migalia and Paradise were never my home, but my parents loved living there after they left the Bay Area and it was always so relaxing to visit them, minus my normal punch list of small repairs and maintenance items that always seemed to be waiting for me. Like so many people who cashed out their Bay Area homes, they found a beautiful community, good friends and a much quieter pace of life in retirement, no one could have ever imagined it would turn into hell on earth”.