SSAR assists with K&W Landfill Fire
Overnight June 17 and into the early hours of June 18 Superior Search & Rescue assisted with identifying hotspots at the K&W Landfill in Ontonagon County using our Thermal UAV. This was a joint effort between the Fire Departments and our team and showed how technology can be used to improve Fire Fighting. Fire crews would spray the entire area and use more resources, but with our team identifying where the hotspots were we could make the operation go faster and put water where it was needed most.
Ontonagon Emergency Manager Mike Kocher said “Having a drone above this fire was a huge benefit…. With an infrared camera that could see through the smoke, along with temperature sensors and even a searchlight , it was possible to locate hot spots, use heavy equipment to move the piles and then put water in exactly the right location.”
One firefighter during the operation complimented the team for providing overhead light of the fire. She was looking for a coupler and could not find it but when the UAV put the spotlight over her and illuminated the area she located it.
This will open the doors for future operations of our UAV into the world of Fire Fighting and will prove useful in our area to assist with getting water exactly where it is needed. To help support this operation and many others like it, you can donate to Superior Search and Rescue through our donation link at the top of the page.
To see the full press release from the Ontonagon County Emergency Management Office about this incident see the document below.
