First responder departments in Effingham County, Illinois recently used a UAS to find a runaway juvenile.

After the juvenile was spotted entering a cornfield, Fire Chief Joe Holomy flew the UAS above the field, and the youth was spotted and contacted. The juvenile was then retrieved by Effingham County Sheriff's deputies, and taken to a local hospital for observation.

According to Police Chief Jeff Fuesting, the UAS proved to be extremely valuable on this day, as it helped save time and reduced the risk of weather-related injuries to both the juvenile and first responders, since the temperatures outside the cornfield were in the 90s that day.

“This was the first time we were able to utilize this type of technology,” Fuesting says via the Effingham Daily News. “Given the excessive heat of the day, officers made the right call to use the drone immediately, rather than risk officers walking through the dense cornfield where temperatures could easily top 120 degrees.”
 
The UAS, which was purchased in May, is registered to the fire department. The idea behind purchasing the UAS, according to Holomy, came from the help of several businesses, as well as a doctor who promoted the idea with a letter to area businesses. Donations from several local businesses were used to purchase the nearly $5,000 UAS.

​The original plan for the UAS was to help firefighters using a thermal camera that would allow them to do a variety of things, including find underground hot spots after a fire, and get an aerial view of a structure fire. Additionally, the thermal camera could help with pre-incident planning to see on rooftops to check for solar panels and air-conditioning units.

At this point in time, Holomy and Deputy Police Chief Danny Lake are the only people within the Effingham County first responder departments licensed to pilot the UAS, but more firefighter personnel and officers are expected to receive training so that they can use the technology.