Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Orland Fire Protection District firefighters said a drone’s-eye-view helped them battle a house fire possibly started by a lighting strike Wednesday.

The homeowners were out of town, so neighbors called to report a fire around 2:45 a.m. Wednesday at a home in the 10800 block of West Scarlet Drive in Orland Park, said Battalion Chief Bill Bonnar. By the time firefighters arrived, flames had spread throughout the attic and roof of the 5,000-square foot home, officials said in a news release. No one was injured, but the damage was extensive, they said.

It took firefighters about an hour to get the flames under control, but in addition to standard firefighting equipment, they also deployed a drone — the first live test of a technology they’ve been piloting for about two months, said Battalion Chief Mike Schofield.

Orland Fire Protection District firefighters used a drone to help target efforts to put out a house fire Wednesday morning. The fire caused extensive damages but no one was injured. Orland Fire Protection District photo

“It’s very new technology but in the future I see this being used a lot in the fire service,” Schofield said. “It allows us to get an aerial view of the fire spreading, it allows us to put our water where it needs to be.”

Bonnar said drones have been marketed for firefighting purposes for a couple years but in the past they’d been too large, heavy and expensive. “The cost and technology has improved greatly,” he said.

When he got to the scene Wednesday morning, the drone’s operator, Director of Communication William Neumann, said he did a quick 360 above the home, then got in the passenger seat of the battalion chief’s car so they could both see through its camera via an iPad mounted atop the remote control.

“He had a bird’s eye view of everything that was going on,” Neumann said.

Before Wednesday morning, Neumann had only flown it for practice or over fire simulations at their training center. He estimated he’s put in about 80 hours of flying so far.

Though Schofield called it a pilot program, he said its performance during the fire was a big success, giving fire district officials a view above and behind the home that let them see where the fire was coming from and helping them fight the blaze more efficiently.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires public entities, including law enforcement and fire departments, obtain an authorization certificate to use drones but doesn’t track how many agencies have sought the permit for those purposes, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory.

Neumann said the Orland Fire Protection District has not yet sought FAA approval but is talking with Naperville about the process after Neumann heard they had applied for permission to use a drone.

“This is a technology we’re going to see used in the fire service a whole lot more from now on,” Schofield said.

thanks Chris, Dan and Martin

Tags: Battalion Chief Bill Bonnar, Battalion Chief Mike Schofield, drone footage of house fire, fire department uses drone at house fire, Orland Fire Protection District