READING, MASS. (WHDH) - The Reading Police Department activated its new drone to help combat the recent brush fires in the area.
Officials used the drone’s thermal technology last week, pinpointing the worst of a fast-moving fire through some woods in town.
“It got within 50 feet of the houses at one point,” said Reading Police Chief David Clark. “We used the thermal imaging to look through the woods, and we could actually see where the fire was moving and deploy resources ahead of that.”
The police department will soon have nine officers specifically trained and FAA-certified to fly the drone.
“Initially there is going to be one person that is operating the drone, they will be on the controller. There’ll be a supervisor overseeing that,” said Officer DaLonn Pearson.
The new addition to the department is proving to be a crucial one.
“It’s definitely a great asset for us, it’s a force multiplier because we’re able to get eyes in the sky to see stuff we wouldn’t be able to see without that kind of equipment there,” said Officer Ben Moffett.
The department expressed that the drone is be able to assist with an array of tasks, including searches.
“It’s a great piece of technology, the drone, it comes in handy when we are doing searches and looking for a fire and stuff like that. It’s been a long time getting to this point,” said Officer Noah Clark.
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