County fire department launches drone in San Bernardino

The county’s Fire Protection District started a 30-day trial period Monday in San Bernardino to gauge the effectiveness of using a drone as a first response to certain calls for emergency service, city officials announced Monday.

The focus of the test is to use airborne drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, to address reports of unknown types of fires, officials said. An unknown fire type is a category of emergency calls in which the reporting party describes seeing smoke without a vehicle, structure or vegetation involved.  

The San Bernardino County Fire Protection District has found that most unknown fire type calls prove to be unfounded when firefighters respond to the location in question, according to a city statement.  Often such calls turn out to be cooking or warming fires that are not a threat to the community.

“Over the past week alone, County Fire has responded to 53 unknown fire calls in the City of San Bernardino and 833 during the final three months of 2024,” the statement said.

During the study, fire department personnel will send a drone to the location initially to investigate the reported blaze. UAV response times will be able to be measured in seconds based on the size of the test area.

The county’s UAV fleet is equipped with multiple sensors that feed high-definition and thermal-imaging cameras, and “the images can be transmitted to responding units for situational awareness as well as improved efficiency and safety,” according to the city.

A team of licensed UAV pilots operates the drones.

County firefighters have used drones previously to map fire perimeters, gather information at hazardous materials incidents and in searches for flood victims, officials said.

Footage the UAV generated during a three-alarm fire Monday at a commercial complex on G Street is available for viewing at vimeo.com/1046929366.

No injuries were reported, according to the county fire department.

“Damage estimates were still being compiled, however the primary structure is a total loss,” fire officials said in a statement.

The fire’s cause was under investigation.

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