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PUTNAM — An act of unsolicited generosity has given two Putnam hearth departments the power to higher serve their communities.
A resident lately gifted the Putnam and East Putnam departments with new aerial drones, items of kit the chiefs mentioned provides them one other set of instruments of their fire-fighting arsenals — and never simply throughout lively blazes.
Putnam Fireplace Chief Bob Campbell mentioned a lady — who wished to stay nameless — stopped by the division’s Church Avenue headquarters a few months in the past seeking to make a distinction.
“She mentioned she often takes a visit this time of yr, like a cruise, however due to the present COVID-19 scenario that couldn’t occur this yr,” Campbell mentioned. “She mentioned she’d been so blessed that she wished to make a donation to us and the East Putnam division saying that even when she might assist only one individual, it will make her very pleased.”
Campbell began performing some analysis on how finest the lady’s donation could possibly be spent.
“I knew we would have liked a drone with a thermal imaging digital camera and zoom lens capabilities,” he mentioned. “These sorts of issues assist when at an lively hearth, however these drones additionally permits us to do pre-planning. We now have massive mill complexes on the town and the drones can fly over and video the places. We are able to evaluate the footage and that helps us know forward of time one of the best spots to station vans in case there’s a hearth at these websites.”
Campbell mentioned the thermal imaging will likely be additionally useful with lacking individual searches and different nighttime operations.
“If there’s a automobile accident close to the woods and now we have an unconscious sufferer who can’t inform us if another person is on the market and harm, we are able to use that thermal choice for searches,” he mentioned.
The lady’s $4,500 donation paid for the 2 drone kits, in addition to operations lessons for 4 firefighters, two from every division.
“Round this space, now we have some individuals who’ve at all times been very supportive of the police and hearth departments, people who find themselves solely seeking to assist others,” he mentioned.
There’ve been just a few different donators who’ve stepped ahead with drone-related provides of cash or tools to emergency service organizations within the area.
In 2016, the Plainfield Police Division used a $10,000 nameless donation to assist purchase their very own drone. Norwich’s East Nice Plain Volunteer Fireplace Division in November was supplied with a drone by the Nationwide Public Security Drone Donation Program.
East Nice Plain Fireplace Chief Keith Milton mentioned such items enable organizations, particularly volunteer departments with restricted budgets, to improve their public security instrument kits with out burdening taxpayers.
“We might have gone out and performed a fundraiser and that’s one thing I used to be trying into doing,” Milton mentioned. “Nevertheless it’s higher when you don’t have to try this. Among the high-end drones can value upwards of tens of 1000’s of {dollars}. We didn’t need something that was too loopy, however we additionally didn’t need one thing you simply picked up at Walmart.”
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