County planning to increase drone use

Hays County emergency response agencies are hoping to use more unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, in emergency situations. At its meeting Tuesday morning, the Hays County Commissioners Court authorized the county’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) to submit an application to the Federal Aviation Administration for a certificate of authorization that all countywide agencies will operate under.

Kharley Smith, who heads the OES, explained the request to the commissioners.

“As technology continues to advance, so do the tools available to first responders,” she said.

The county has worked with the Wimberley Fire Department to use UAVs, also referred to as drones, in life-threatening situations before, Smith said, and other agencies in the county have recognized the need for the expanded use of drones in emergencies.

“Over the past several years, they’ve responded to numerous lifesaving missions in Hays County,” Smith said of the Wimberley Fire Department and its drone capabilities. “From missing persons to missing children calls. It’s so much more efficient and effective to use a UAV.”

The use of drones in searches and in assessing wildfires can keep first responders out of harm’s way, Smith said, adding that during the response to Hurricane Harvey last year she saw numerous uses for UAVs: search and rescue, emergency response, scene assessment, damage assessments, finding people standing on rooftops in need of rescue and more.

“It clearly is a capability that will benefit all areas of response and recovery,” she said.

The county is in the process of drafting policies for the use of UAVs that will set paramaters for when they are to be deployed, Smith said. Each public safety department will also draft internal policies setting additional parameters.

“No individual department will operate a UAV prior to the development of these policies,” Smith said.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe asked about privacy concerns

“That is front and foremost in our mind,” Smith responded, emphasizing that the drones would be used in emergency situations only.

“It’s not for just day-to-day operations,” she said. “It’s not to be flown over an area just to be flown over an area. It really is an emergency response capability. … Privacy issues will be addressed in the initial policy and in the department policies as well.”