Dec 23, 2024 Local News
Jefferson Co., Mo. (KFMO) - Every year the Hillsboro Fire Protection District along with many other emergency responders provide many hours of safety standbys for the various events hosted by the Hillsboro Civic Club such as the Jefferson County Rodeo and Jefferson County Fair. Every year the Hillsboro Civic Club attempts to give back to the community through supporting first responders. Late last year, the Hillsboro Fire Protection District was approached by the Hillsboro Civic Club to assist with starting a Drone Program to help first responders throughout Jefferson County. A drone provides an eye in the sky to help locate lost subjects, to help locate criminal suspects, to help locate and determine the size of wildfires, to help view large building fires and many other applications. Every emergency services discipline can benefit from a drone.
After some discussion and planning, the Hillsboro Fire Protection District eagerly agreed to be the host agency for this new drone. The Hillsboro Civic Club donated $7,500.00 towards the project with the Hillsboro Fire Protection District investing the rest of the money towards the program. The entire cost of the drone and training was approximately $17,000.00. The drone has been on multiple missions over the past few months including several large wildfires and several missing people.
On November 6th, 2024, the true value of the drone was realized when it was dispatched to assist the DeSoto Rural Fire Protection District along with Hillsboro’s boats to assist with a person who had been swept away by flood waters on Mammoth Road at the Big River bridge. Upon arrival it was found that crews on the scene had already rescued one individual, however one was still missing. Rescuers had heard the individual yell for help, but they were unable to locate him and had not heard them yelling in a while. Flood waters were rapidly rising, and conditions were worsening. The drone from Hillsboro Fire was placed in the air and within 10 minutes of launch they were able to locate the vehicle the individual was last seen in. Approximately 5 minutes later the individual was located in swift moving flood waters in a tree.
Upon locating the individual in the tree, rescuers devised a plan to get a boat to the individual and bring him to safety. Upon implementing the plan, the drone hoovered over the individual guiding the boat operators to the trapped individual. The plan was executed successively, and the individual was brought to dry land where Valle Ambulance began treatment and transport of the patient. The coordination among all the first response agencies involved made this incident successful.
Without this valuable tool, there is no doubt that the outcome of this incident would have been much different and not a positive one. A family’s loved one is here today because of the drone and the rescue workers who made this incident a successful one.
Prior to the drone in Hillsboro, the closet drone would have come from either Rock Community Fire or High Ridge Fire. Jefferson County is now covered by 3 drones for rapid deployment and is available to all fire, EMS and Law Enforcement Agencies.
