The Sampson County Fire Marshal’s Office has a game-changing piece of aerial technology that allows for more efficient fire suppression and improved safety for those attacking flames from the ground.
Sampson County Office of Emergency Management has been the beneficiary of grants from local electric membership corporations, specifically South River EMC and Four County EMC, that were used to purchase state-of-the-art drones. One purchased last year through a South River grant was utilized at a commercial structure fire for the first time Sunday.
“That was the first time we were able to deploy that,” said Sampson Deputy Fire Marshal Joshua Deaver. “It was awesome. Being able to actually get up there and see where the heat was coming from was an incredible tool.”
In the wake of an unfortunate incident that ravaged a maintenance shop at Jackson Farming Company in the Autryville area, emergency officials said the deployment of a drone equipped with FLIR (forward-looking infrared) was a silver lining that displayed vast capabilities for future response.