During an unusual noon time meeting July 12, the Canton City Council heard a report on the city’s drone program as part of their special called session.

Canton Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bud Sanford presented the update to the council members through a power point presentation.

“We started our drone program here just over a year ago,” said Sanford. “We actually had to send people to school for the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulations. We had to follow their regulations as well as the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) guidelines in order to fly our drone. This was a pretty extensive school. We can only use our drone here for certain means.”

Sanford then showed a series of photographs through his power point presentation to the council members.

“The image that I am showing you here is from a particular day where an individual chose to go around breaking into houses and cars,” pointed out Sanford. “As part of his decision-making, he chose to run away from our officers. Our drone was called in and it was launched. It takes two people to operate the drone, one to look at the image and one that needs to be communicating with the people out in the field. You are looking at a thermal image. This took place in some very brushy-type atmosphere with a lot of undergrowth going on. On this image, you see one little dot showing. That is the guy we were going after. Our officers on the ground were at risk without the use of our drone. We were able to communicate with our officers on the ground because of one little drone with thermal imaging that ultimately led to the officers capturing the suspect. The expertise of our drone pilots contributed to the capture.”

The Canton fire chief then showed videos and photos of how the drone was used in a recent drug bust.

“Our officers and the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) had been working on this for several weeks,” emphasized Sanford. “Our drone was launched from over a half-mile away. It was focused on one particular car. When the two pilots determined that everything was safe, they initiated the sting. We had our ‘eye in the sky’ protecting our officers and they eventually ended the situation. Our drone has been wonderful for us. This is a cooperative effort between the DEA and the local sheriff’s department. We were not active in this particular drug bust except we were the ones that had the drone. Safety means everything for our law enforcement people. We were asked to bring out our drone.

“In the examples that I have shown you here today (July 12), all of our missions with law en forcement using our drone have been successful,” summarized Sanford. “The bad folks have been captured and no law enforcement officers have been hurt.”

Sanford explained to the council members how the drone is also being used during fire-fighting situations in Canton.

“The drone pilots with our police department are showing up at these scenes,” said Sanford. “This has paid more dividends for us in structure fires but also in grass fires as well. The drone gives us a great look. I am showing you images from a recent structure fire north of Canton. You can see that we were dealing with a lot of smoke on a 100-degree day. The drone showed us a heat signature. It allowed me to direct our guys who were fighting the fire. The drone is paying dividends for us as firefighters as well as the police department.

“Here is another situation that we recently faced, an L-shaped house west of town,” continued Sanford. “The firefighters were dealing with a lot of smoke and fire on another 100-degree day. The drone gave me great direction to pass along to our firefighters.”

The drone was also flown during the recent Fourth of July fireworks show at the west entrance of the First Monday grounds on FM 859 between State Highway 64 and Interstate 20, according to Sanford.

“We got some great shots of the fireworks, especially the grand finale,” said Sanford. “It was a great fireworks show. We used our drone prior to the fireworks show to check the parking areas in order to see if we needed to divert people in a different direction as they were parking their cars.”

Sanford concluded his presentation as he discussed the future of the drone program in

Canton.

“Your support of our drone program means everything to us,” summarized Sanford. “We are going to continue to build on this program.”

When asked by Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett how long the drone can fly on one battery charge, Canton Police Chief Brad Allison responded, “We have six batteries, and the drone can fly up to 25 minutes on each battery.”

“We are looking at some new software packages for the upcoming year,” said Sanford. “We are also seeking out more grants to get more drones. Thank you for supporting this program.”

Council members Chase Melton and Randon Sumner were not present at the July 12 special called meeting.

The Canton City Council held their regular monthly meeting July 19, but information was not available at press time.