MURRELLS INLET, SC (WBTW)- The Murrells Inlet – Garden City Fire Department has a new piece of equipment it says will lead to quicker response times.
Murrells Inlet – Garden City is the first fire department in Horry and Georgetown counties to get a drone. The department bought a Phantom 3 drone with donations from the Murrells Inlet Elks Lodge.
“It’s going to make everything a lot more efficient, a lot safer for our crew members,” said Captain Jerry Howerton.
Crew members operate the technology using an iPad or iPhone. The drone can fly 30 mph and up to 400 feet high. Howerton says the view comes in handy, especially during search and rescue operations.
“Being able to launch this thing and have a full aerial view instead of having a direct line of sight has benefited us ten fold,” he said.
Crews can launch the drone 1.5 mile from the scene and give it a search pattern. Once the swimmer or vessel in distress is located, the drone uses GPS tracking to provide the exact coordinates on a map.
Howerton says the drone will also help keep crew members safe in responding to structure fires and haz-mat situations.
“We can actually fly this thing by camera, through doorways, down the hallway, into different rooms,” he explained
The department is still waiting on permission from the FAA to actually use the drone, which is supposed to take 60 days.
“In the meantime, we have been doing training over our training grounds here, hiding different objects around the area,” said Howerton.
According to Howerton, they’re able to get the drone out of the case and into the air in less than two minutes.
“So far it has worked flawlessly,” he said.
