New technology assists firefighters, lifeguards with emergency rescues

Beachgoers stared at the newest piece of fire and lifeguard rescue equipment as it hovered above them.

“Everyone's excited to use it,” Encinitas Fire Chief Josh Gordon said.

The equipment has a regular and thermal camera and a PA system, all in one.

The Encinitas Fire Department and Marine Safety Division received one larger drone and two smaller ones that the fire department will use on land and at sea.

According to Gordon, the equipment will allow firefighters to see where the fire is, which they usually do not necessarily see because of a hotspot.

“We have people that might be stranded in the water and need assistance. We can look for sharks if that is a sighting out there or something; we can go and determine if it's a real shark or just a dolphin,” Gordon said.

Fire officials say that there have been several rescue situations this year so far that would have been easier with the drone.

“There's been other times where we have rollover traffic accident where a person is ejected from the vehicle," Gordon said. "We can now bring the drone up, use a thermal imaging camera to see where that victim might be, where we might have missed them in the past,” said Gordon.

They hope to train most of the department to operate the drones so they can hit the ground- flying.

“We have a much quicker response now with our drones,” said Gordon.