Fire Department Presses Drone Into Service in River Tubing Rescue

Auburn, Maine, fire chief Frank Roma happens to be a drone photography enthusiast, but on Tuesday, he pressed his DJI Phantom 3 quadcopter into life-saving service to carry a haul line to a boy, 12, and a man, 18, stuck on a rock in the rapids of the Little Androscoggin River. Once the stranded inner-tubers grabbed the line, it was used to haul a life jacket over prior to a boat rescue. The photo above shows the drone; the videos show the rescue.

“I think we’ve only begun to scratch the surface for what their full capabilities can be in the emergencies field,” Roma told news channel WMTW. “I was able to see exactly what the drone was seeing. I was able to direct it to where it needed to be.” Credit: Facebook/Auburn Fire Department