Sheldon, Iowa — Sheldon Firefighters and Ag Partners employees were able to utilize a reasonably new technology in assessing the situation in the aftermath of an explosion at the Ag Partners plant in Sheldon Friday morning.
During Friday’s incident, Sheldon firefighters requested the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office bring their drone aircraft to assist firefighters. Sioux County Chief Deputy and County EMA Coordinator Nate Huizenga says one of the abilities of the drone is to locate the heat signature of a fire.
Huizenga tells us how the thermal imaging camera was put to use in Friday’s incident.
In addition to the thermal imaging camera, Sioux County’s drone also has a hi-resolution zoom camera.
He tells us why the thirty-power zoom camera is important.
In addition to giving officials the ability to ascertain if a site is stable enough for humans to enter, as was the case during the Ag Partners incident, the drone can also be used to get visual confirmation of the activities of a suspect, without putting officers in harm’s way. He says that in the two-years the department has had the drone they’ve used it to get aerial footage of floods, and train derailments. Huizenga says they’ve undergone “lost person” drills and the like.
Huizenga says the drone has changed the way his department does its job, and after having the drone for a couple of years, he doesn’t know how they did their job without it.
Photo caption: Actual photo of damage at Ag Partners taken by Sioux County’s drone
