{"id":177261,"date":"2024-05-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=177261"},"modified":"2024-05-16T16:25:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T16:25:51","slug":"fort-cavazos-des-drone-team-is-new-hero-on-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=177261","title":{"rendered":"Fort Cavazos DES Drone team is new hero on scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n A screenshot of the drone’s video footage from the May 5, 2024, rescue of three Soldiers trapped at Curry Demolition Range at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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FORT CAVAZOS, Texas \u2014 The last couple of weeks have been wrought with thunderstorms and deluges of rain, causing flooding all over Central Texas, with Fort Cavazos as no exception. When it was reported that multiple Soldiers were trapped at Cowhouse Machine Gun Range and Curry Demolition Range May 5 due to rising waters, there were new modern heroes that rose to the occasion to help \u2014 the Directorate of Emergency Services drone team.<\/p>\n

The team, led by James Wallace, Fort Cavazos Fire Department Battalion 1 chief, was established early this year after efforts to create it last year. The team comprises 12 members, all of whom have remote pilot, or Part 107 certification, from the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrone capabilities have been around a while in the public service sector,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cSo, we just wanted to, for lack of better words, kind of see what we needed to do to get those capabilities here on the installation.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of the FAA certification, five members underwent 100 hours of training at a course in Austin, Texas, from February to April, with four more currently in the course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first five of us went to this drone course and learned all the ins and outs of drones and how to fly and what to do and what to look for \u2026 So that\u2019s kind of how it got started,\u201d said Ennis Kanawi, a captain for Station 2, Fort Cavazos Fire Department.<\/p>\n

The team got their first chance to fly their drones in action on May 5 when assisting in not one, but two rescue operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very confident,\u201d Kanawi said of his first mission as part of the drone team. \u201cRunning emergencies \u2026 this is our profession so that\u2019s what we\u2019re used to \u2026 We had completed the 100-hour course, which is very intense and a lot of training. So, I was very confident in our abilities and what we needed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first operation of the day was rescuing Soldiers trapped at Cowhouse Machine Gun range. Wallace has called for the swift-water rescue team and additional resources, including the drone team, when he came upon Soldiers who explained over 30 Soldiers were trapped on the range, Kanawi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time the swift-water rescue team got there, the flooding of the Cowhouse was a lot more,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt started going over river. It ended up being right around four to five feet over the bridge and over the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boats and drones were launched to facilitate operations. The boats ferried people back and forth while the drone team, composed of three people that day, overwatched the boat teams and area. Arco Ruiz, firefighter, Station 1, Fort Cavazos Fire Department, and Michael Cloutier, firefighter, Station 2, Fort Cavazos Fire Department, piloted drones for the mission, alternating in order to switch out batteries and ensure continuous overwatch. Kanawi provided assistance.<\/p>\n

Wallace explained that overwatching boats allows the incident commander to be able to observe the entire operation without hindering others from doing their jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce that boat leaves visibility of the incident commander or whoever is on the shore as their safety, we have only radio communication,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cWell, they\u2019re busy, and they\u2019re tied up with their emergency operations, and the last they need to do is talk on the radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we did (the day of the incident) is when we launched the boat, we put the drone directly over the boat. The video footage captures that boat and in real time, we\u2019re watching what\u2019s going on,\u201d Wallace continued.<\/p>\n

The drone team was also able to provide real-time feedback to range operations to ensure there was no loss of equipment, Wallace said.<\/p>\n

The boat and drone teams rescued all 39 Soldiers trapped at Cowhouse Machine Gun Range.<\/p>\n

In the second rescue mission of the day, Cloutier was the sole pilot, Ruiz was a visual observer and Kanawi assumed command for the drone team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not just one person on the drone team that\u2019s actually responding, doing things,\u201d Kanawi said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be at least two to three personnel. So if we have one drone in the air, we\u2019ll have one pilot, one visual observer, making sure there\u2019s nothing getting in the way of the drone; and then also additional personnel, usually an officer that is watching what\u2019s going on, running the operation, having constant communication with the other teams to ensure that it\u2019s a coordinated effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drone team not only overwatched the boats, but also located three trapped Soldiers on Curry Demolition Range and identified potential hazards for the rescue crew.<\/p>\n

All three Soldiers were also successfully rescued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt awesome,\u201d Ruiz said of being able to be a part of the rescue, \u201cbecause at the end of the day, I am the first person that officially flew these drones.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n A drone hovers in the air May 14, 2024, at a training area at Fort Cavazos, Texas. The Fort Cavazos Fire Department formed a drone team this year to assist in operations. The team had their first missions May 5, successfully assisting in rescuing a total of 42 Soldiers in two different operations.
\n (Photo Credit: Photo by Ayumi Davis, Fort Cavazos Fire Department)<\/span>
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Wallace praised the drone team for their execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, everyone who was on those missions had completed the part 107 (FAA certification) and the 100-hour course,\u201d Wallace said, \u201cand so that training, I think, prepared us very well for the missions at hand \u2026 Those missions went very well given the situations that we were dealt. They were handled very professionally, and I think the team performed very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

When looking at the benefits of drones, Kanawi said the major benefit is safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor drone operations, you can use (the drone) to assist in rescue, you can use it to assist in wildland operations, which we have a lot here on Fort Cavazos, to be able to see what\u2019s going on, where the direction of the fire is heading, can help maneuver guys on the ground about where they need to go and what\u2019s the safe route to get there,\u201d Kanawi explained. \u201cThere\u2019s so many benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace agreed, highlighting the benefit of easier access.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have a lost individual out in the ranges, we can locate that person,\u201d he said. \u201cThe drone can cover a lot more ground, clear a lot more area a lot quicker than first responders. It can gain access to areas that first responders can\u2019t gain access to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have 100 Soldiers in the woods doing a wide area search, we can replace that with one drone in the air and a three-person team in a safe area, and they can scan that area and be just as effective, if not more effective with that drone,\u201d Wallace said.<\/p>\n

He added some of the benefits of drones over deploying helicopters as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelos have to stay a little higher than a drone can,\u201d Wallace explained, \u201cand the benefit of the drone is it not only does live feed, but it has video recording \u2026 When you use a helo, it\u2019s limited to the eyesight of either the crew chiefs or the pilots or anybody who\u2019s on that aircraft visibly looking with their eyes so they only have a real-time scan of the person looking. We have video and picture capabilities to bring that back, download it to a computer, blow it up on a big screen TV and be able to see if there (are) any anomalies in that image that we need to go investigate further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace said they are currently looking to expand their drone capabilities, including delivery capabilities.<\/p>\n

The drones currently have live-feed, recording and thermal imaging abilities, he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were trying to find somebody out on the ranges somewhere, we could drop them water while we\u2019re trying to get ground assets to them,\u201d Wallace explained. \u201cThe capabilities are limitless on the drones as we progress this program forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A screenshot of the drone’s video footage from the May 5, 2024, rescue of three Soldiers trapped at Curry Demolition Range at Fort Cavazos, Texas. (Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of the Fort Cavazos Fire Department) VIEW ORIGINAL FORT CAVAZOS, Texas \u2014 The last couple of weeks have been wrought with thunderstorms and deluges of rain, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177263,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=177261"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177266,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177261\/revisions\/177266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/177263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=177261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=177261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=177261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}