A three-story apartment complex caught fire near SUNY Brockport in Clarkson, New York, and the fire moved through the attic faster than crews expected. When Brockport Fire Chief Adam Leggett looked up at the height of the building and realized his crews could not see half the hotspots from ground level, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office launched a DJI Matrice 300 RTK with thermal imaging capability.
What happened next is exactly why law enforcement agencies are investing in professional-grade drone hardware and keeping FAA-certified remote pilots on standby for emergencies that cannot wait for conventional methods to catch up.
The Matrice 300 RTK spotted hotspots that would have required firefighters to climb to the third floor with handheld thermal cameras, enter the attic space, and hunt for fire in an unstable structure. Instead, the drone sent thermal images down to ground crews from a safe distance, and kept firefighters out of a situation that was already close to lethal.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Drone Unit
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office maintains a small unmanned aircraft system program with three FAA-licensed remote pilots on staff. The program operates two drones with different capabilities.
The DJI Mavic Pro is a compact aircraft that can be flown inside buildings and serves as a rapid-response tool for situations that do not require advanced sensors. The DJI Matrice 300 RTK is the platform designed for complex operations like thermal imaging during fires or LIDAR scanning for three-dimensional mapping and reconstruction.
The Matrice 300 RTK carries an HD camera and thermal detection equipment. The thermal camera detects heat signatures from the air, which means the drone can identify fire hotspots in real time and transmit imagery to ground crews without anyone having to physically reach those locations…