FLORIDA FIRE SERVICE April 2018 10 T he City of Miami Fire-Rescue Department is among some of the very first departments in the country to receive permission from the FAA to fly drones in the National Airspace (NAS). It took approximately 7 months, but the City of Miami is now authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) in order to help mitigate fires, hazardous materials incidents, major disasters and other emergency situations through use of the NAS. The FAA issued Miami Fire-Rescue’s Blanket Certificate of Authorization (COA) on February 16, 2017 and an additional Jurisdictional COA five months later on July 14, 2017. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), UAS or drones as they are called are gaining national attention as a new and exciting technology. Hobbyists and private citizens alike are acquiring drones and using them to capture imagery and other data from a vantage point that was previously reserved for only those with access to manned aircraft. Governments at all levels are expressing interest in how UAS can be applied to emergency management processes and firefighting, including preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. Drones have endless uses on the emergency scene and within a non-emergency role when developing and preplanning for events. UAV’s can be used to quickly establish increased situational awareness surrounding escalating incidents. A trained drone team can quickly capture imagery that can be used to accurately assess a situation and prescribe operational tactics. Consider the usefulness of sending a drone up to accurately size up a hazardous material incident; managing of a local large- scale highly attended event such as a marathon or road race type of sporting event; or the ability to get an aerial view of incident operations on a large commercial building fire. In the areas of pre- and post-damage assessments, this acquisition will also be able to perform live inspections of buildings, towers, bridges etc. for defects or damage before and after natural or man-made disasters. Another objective would be to get a broader view of dangerous or collapsing buildings and the impact they may have on firefighting and general public safety in area neighborhoods. These dangerous buildings can be identified through data cross-matching techniques and mapping with newer UAS technology. The acquisition of this new technology has greatly enhanced a number of Emergency Management functions, as well as search and rescue (SAR) and coordination and deployment of City of Miami emergency response assets. Safety of Department personnel and the public, personal privacy and protection of the environment are just a few of the many issues raised by drones. Establishing clear policies and direction has ensured these advanced capabilities may be considered toward the overall benefit of the City of Miami. Big Pine Key, courtesy of FL-TF2 During a two week period in 2017, the State of Florida saw two Category 4 hurricanes strike the U.S. coast. It will likely be viewed as the landmark event that accelerated the use of UAV’s in disaster response and recovery efforts. After the widespread devastation Hurricane Irma wreaked on the State of Florida, unmanned aircraft were invaluable in supporting response and recovery efforts in battered South Florida. The use of quick, agile and easily launched drones allowed for safer more efficient operations than if conventional manned aircraft had to operate during the same period. The majority of airports in the affected area as hurricane Irma approached were closed or re-purposed for relief operations. When this happened, Irma literally crippled South Florida’s ability to assess damage from the air. Many aircraft normally used for emergency response had been evacuated to the Orlando area to protect them from the damage of high winds and did not return until Monday the 11th. More than 16 commercial airports in the South Florida area were also forced to cease operations, including major transport hubs such as Miami International and Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale Airport resulting in the cancellation of more than 4,000 flights. The FAA’s ability to quickly authorize unmanned aircraft operations after Irma’s landfall was especially critical. More importantly, the FAA made the decision that an agency with a legitimate reason to fly an unmanned aircraft would be able to do so. In many cases, they were able to approve individual operations within minutes of receiving a request. While deployed to the lower Keys for search and rescue operations, the City of Miami and FEMA US&R FL-TF2 were able to get Notices to Airmen (NOTAMS) up literally within minutes of receiving an area in which they needed to operate. Florida Task Force Two (FL-TF2) is one of twenty-eight teams hosted by the City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue that specialize in response and recovery operations, technical rescue and emergency triage and medicine. Collapsed cranes in Downtown Miami Drones were able to perform many critical tasks as this impending disaster unfolded, including making damage assessments post storm on two collapsed cranes in the City of Miami’s downtown area. The City of Miami has also tasked its drone fleet to document debris management by measuring the amount of debris as it is collected and delivered to official sites around the city. They are also currently working with the City’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability documenting King Tides along The City of Miami Fire-Rescue Department sUAS Program By Mark Moore, Deputy Emergency Manager and sUAS Coordinator, City of Miami Fire-Rescue April 2018 FFS.QXD 4/10/18 1:37 PM Page 10