Help Rangitikei Volunteer Rural Fire upgrade their Drone system.

Around 2013 the team realised the massive potential that a drone could serve in fire fighting applications. That’s when "Dronie" our first drone was purchased. Dronie and its replacements Dronie II & III have proved time and time again not just at fires but also searches how valuable a tool Drones are. We hope to be able to continue providing support to various emergency services in the wider Manawatu, Rangitikei, Horowhenua, and Whanganui areas. We are hoping to expand our current capability by supplementing Dronie III (A Phantom 4 v2) with its bigger cousin the Matrice 300 which offers both increased flight time and stability along with better quality images and interchangeable sensor packages. Ultimately with enough support, we would like to purchase a modular thermal camera system.

Our current thermal systems have proven themselves in both a firefighting and search and rescue capacity. However, the latest generation of thermal camera offer a significant boost in camera resolution, effectively having the amount of work required to search a ser area. This is where we need help from some generous people out there. The cost of the base airframe is $10,000. Anything extra raised (if we have enough support) will go towards the cost of thermal imaging packages which can range from $10,000 to $18,000. While the setup cost is rather high, the ongoing savings and benefit from having a thermal imaging airborne platform available for use 24/7 are huge.

We realise that people have busy lives and may not be available to offer their time fighting fires or participating in searches, but if you can assist us in upgrading our drone, it will reduce the amount of time wasted on the fire ground and dramatically increase the safety and effectiveness of the hard working volunteers.

Have a look, at the Facebook page to see some of the imagery Dronie has produced over his time with us. The link is on the right. ->

or here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1656040294668787/

If you are interested in volunteering with FENZ in a Rural Fire context, contact Paul Chaffe on 06 327 0099 during work hours. :)