Drone rescue a FIRST for SA

The Garden Route is known for its fierce rip currents and drowning incidents happen frequently. 

DRONE INFLATABLES

Going forward, fire and rescue officials will be able to use innovative drone technology to rescue people who are in distress at sea. According to SABC News, a floating device is attached to the drone and it will inflate automatically when it is deployed. This will keep the person afloat until they can be rescued. An invaluable extra feature is that the device has an audio function. This will allow communication between the rescue team and the person who needs to be rescued. The main aim is to increase sea rescues.

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HOW DOES IT WORK?

The fire chief of the municipality of George, Neels Barnard, explained to SABC News how it works. “It’s for patients or persons that get in trouble in the water so that we can get to them much quicker with the drone, and while we wait for the jet rip to come in and come and pick them up. So they can hold on to this device and the jet rip can pick them up,” he said.

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FIRE DEPARTMENT’S INVOLVEMENT

Lifeguards are part of the fire rescue team and therefore the fire department plays a vital role. Santa Sternsdorf, the station commander at the George fire department, said to SABC News that this technology will help them to have extra time to save people. “We are able to drop life-saving devices to buy patents time until the life savers or people on jet skis or any other vessel can get to our patients. This is all about saving lives and providing a service to the community. And with lifeguards being part of the fire service it’s a rescue function of ours, so we are really trying to better our service to the public,” explained Sternsdorf.

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HOLIDAY SEASON APPROACHING

December is approaching fast, and it is a very popular time for many people to go on holiday. Thousands of holiday-goers flock to the Western Cape and visit the beaches. This breakthrough will enable authorities to save more lives and to respond quicker to incidents. 

The George rescue services teams currently have two of these devices and both are re-usable.

ALSO READ: Two Singaporean tourists DROWN at Crocodile River

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