Fighting fires isn’t the only skill Scappoose Fire Chief Jeff Pricher has in his repertoire. He is also a certified Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) pilot.
The Scappoose Rural Fire Protection District (SRFPD) introduced UAS in 2015, and the utilization of the uncrewed aircraft technology “has quickly grown to allow us to be one of the leaders of the country with this technology,” Pricher said.
In a one-on-one interview and demonstration with The Chronicle, Pricher detailed UAS’ many practical uses, including the technology’s ability to expedite search and rescue missions.
Scappoose Fire Chief Jeff Pricher demonstrates the functionalities of a UAS. See a video demonstration of the flight with this story at the chronicleonline.com.
Zoe Gottlieb / The Chronicle
Pricher displays a camera attachment for the UAS. See a video demonstration of the flight with this story at the chronicleonline.com.
Zoe Gottlieb / The Chronicle
“Somebody on the ground level, they’re not going to be able to see something five or 10 feet away into the brush,” Pricher said.
“When we have the aircraft up above with that infrared sensor, whether it’s a child who walked out of the house and went into the woods or somebody with dementia that just got lost, we can use that infrared technology and the heat signatures to find people faster.”
Pricher points to heat signatures on an aircraft-generated map. See a video demonstration of the flight with this story at the chronicleonline.com.
Zoe Gottlieb / The Chronicle
Critical component
The devices also aid in scene diagramming, a critical component of fire investigations.
“It’s a lot faster for us to get around using those (UAS generated) maps,” Pricher said. “In the aircraft, as opposed to having to handle a scene diagram and running out there with 100-foot-long tape measures to measure the distance from the street to the structure, car, or building, I can do all that with the aircraft in seconds.”
SRFPD currently has three Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs). One is an outdated model, which Pricher said will need replacing in six months in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.
“So, we have three different service levels based on the age of the aircraft, the number of flights that it’s had, (and) the number of hours put on the aircraft to determine when we need to replace (it),” Pricher explained of the UAS’ shelf life. “If a battery is supposedly good for 200 cycles, we get rid of the battery at about 150 to 160.”
UAVs are not cheap, but price points vary widely based on the aircraft’s features.
“If all you’re looking for is the ability to get situational awareness, you can get into something for about $1,000, maybe $1500,” Pricher said. “But when you start getting into the more advanced technology for mapping or using those thermal sensors, you’re looking at anywhere from $8,000 to probably about $12,000 on the multirotor, sort of the entry-level aircraft. Beyond that, it can go up to $140,000.”
Pricher said SRFPD has primarily funded the aircraft through grants, and the district is pursuing a grant for an endurance aircraft with features such as vertical takeoff and landing and enhanced visual-situational awareness. The costs, however, associated with UAVs go beyond the financial.
Along with obtaining a Part 107 license from the FAA, a certified UAV pilot must undergo an additional 70 to 80 hours of training “so that when they look at this map, they know where there’s controlled airspace, they know where they can fly, (and) they know what radio frequency they need to be monitoring,” Pricher said.
“A lot of the conditions we fly in, we have to have special permission from the FAA, which includes a lot of vetting, and when I say a lot of vetting, I mean type certification ratings,” Pricher said.
Growing popularity
The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 directed the FAA Administrator to initiate a 5-year program that established six UAS test sites to support the integration of UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS). The test sites conduct governmental functions such as aeronautical research, biological and geological resource management, search and rescue, and public safety (firefighting and law enforcement). Today there are seven UAS test sites in the United States.
Without inside knowledge, it’s difficult to understand the difference between UAS and drones. But Pricher said knowing the difference is important.
“Part of our goal with our program and to educate our community about what we’re doing with these aircraft is to not refer to them as drones,” Pricher said. “Drones are synonymous with war, conflict, or invasion of privacy. We are not using our aircraft to violate people’s First Amendment rights or misuse personally identifiable information. As such, it’s important to identify them as uncrewed aircraft because that’s basically what they are.”
Drone popularity is booming.
The Pilot Institute, an aviation training provider, predicts that the commercial drone market will soar to $63.6 billion by 2025.
As drones gain favor with techies, business owners, and hobbyists, drone makers have responded by ramping up production. In 2014, the global consumer drone market reached 450,000 units. By 2015, that number grew to 2 million.
Pricher pointed out that UAS, a technology relied on by governmental agencies across the globe, is not to be confused with recreational drones.
“These uncrewed aircraft are not a toy,” Pricher said. “A lot of people look at the stuff that (drones) can do when they’re walking through Walmart or Best Buy. They look like toys, and you can pretty much get them everywhere. But the way we use them in public safety, they’re not toys.”
In implementing drones to maintain public safety, SRFPD aims to lead by example.
“I hope we get to be a part of creating a standard in our community,” Pricher said, adding, “I hope we can expand our program to include our local high school students so we can provide them insight and exposure to this technology.”
