A Pennsylvania fire department has unveiled a new underwater drone that it will be using to perform certain search and recovery operations.
The Crescent Township Fire Department becomes one of the first agencies in its area to use the device, KDKA-TV reports. Over the years, the department has responded to calls along a stretch of the Ohio River in Allegheny County, and the drone also will be used in regional searches.
“Just about anything underwater and you want to see if you can find it,” John Kriger, the department's president, told KDKA.
During river and other marine calls, human divers can be limited by the supply of oxygen, as well as the temperature and conditions of the water. Divers might only be able to operate for about 20 minutes, whereas the drone might be able to go for as long as three hours.
“We can be in the cold water with this and then when we find our object, we can send our diver down," Kriger told KDKA. "It limits his time in the cold water."
The drone is equipped with sonar, a camera and a claw, which all can be guided by a controller onboard a boat or on land. Athough the device can run into the thousands of dollars, the department received its drone from a local family with a long association with the department.
“The department means enough to us this was one of the first things we thought about,” Jon Luke Affeltranger told KDKA.
Affeltranger's mother, Joyce Phillips, and grandfather, Lewis, were involved with the department for nearly 60 years, and Joyce Phillips had wanted the department to have such a drone. When she died earlier this year, Jon Luke Affeltranger and his sister raised the money for device.
“It’s going to be like a guardian angel along the rivers to help a lot more than just us here at the department and town,” Affeltranger told KDKA.
Fittingly, the drone will be known as Remote Operating Vehicle Phillips. Or ROV Phillips, for short.
The drone is expected to be deployed into the field by early 2021 after members have trained on it.
“Whatever we can do to further our compassion and technology on the river, this is it,” Fire Department Chief Dan Muller told KDKA.
