FD Uses Drone To Locate Heat Victims During Parade

CHATHAM – An “eye in the sky” helped rescue crews locate victims of heat exhaustion during Saturday’s Independence Day parade.

 Firefighters Peter Hennigan and Harrison Fietz were piloting the town’s drone during the event from the roof of the fire station, keeping an eye on traffic and spectator congestion points, according to Fire Chief Justin Tavano. Public safety officials have been using drones to monitor major events like the parade for several years now. The fire department team was working in tandem with police, who were able to monitor the drone’s video feed.

 During the height of the parade, two calls came in simultaneously for persons fainting due to the heat at the Red Nun restaurant on Main Street. The crowd at the restaurant was “huge,” Tavano said, “as it usually is.” 

 “People may not know that there’s an emergency going on, with the music and the parade,” he said. “Crews can have trouble getting to the patient.”

 As soon as the calls came in, the drone operators flew over the site and used the drone’s camera to zero in on exactly where the victims were in the crowd.

 “Our drone pilot was able to direct crews exactly where to go on the property, not just to access the patient but how to get out of there,” Tavano said.

 For the parade, the fire department had stationed two medical crews on ATVs and another staff member on a bicycle along the parade route. The drone pilots were able to direct the crew on one of the ATVs right to the victims at the Red Nun. The ATV crew was able to reach the victims and bring them next door to the Chatham Laundromat property, where they met an ambulance. Watching from above, the drone pilots were able to determine that was the best location for the ambulance to get through the parade crowd, via Adams Lane.

 During the parade, the department also received heat-related calls at the town offices, Old Harbor Road and Cumberland Farms, Tavano said. All together, five people were transported to Cape Cod Hospital. Two other non-parade rescues happened in other parts of town, and Harwich sent two mutual aid ambulances to help out.

 The town has had a drone operation in place since about 2020. The drone used during the parade is more robust than the first one the town had. The DJI M350 RTK drone has a longer flight time and more powerful camera, Tavano said. “When you zoom in, you might as well be standing right there,” he said. DroneSense software allows the drone team to share a link to monitor the feed in real time. 

 The drone also did flyovers of beaches, including North Beach Island, to monitor them for large crowds, said Chief of Police Michael Anderson. The availability of the drone has been a game changer in terms of safety, he said.

 “It’s amazing how we were able to run the parade without that asset,” he said.

 “Drones have been incredible for these types of events,” Tavano agreed.

 The town’s drone team is led by Fire Captain RJ Silverster. Other pilots are firefighter Nick Pelkey and police sergeants William Massey and Elizabeth Thompson.