Derbyshire Constabulary has donated an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to Buxton Mountain Rescue, to assist in searching for missing and vulnerable people.
The DJI Mavic 2 Dual Drone will be used by the charity to help locate people in difficulty in remote, semi-urban or moorland areas. The team operate a service, alongside the police and ambulance service, looking for missing people in difficult to access locations or in adverse weather conditions.
Rob Stordy, Buxton Mountain Rescue deputy team leader and drone lead, said: “Buxton Mountain Rescue Team hugely appreciate this donation.
“Drones help us in locating people in need of help, planning our response and identifying hazards.
“In February, we began an ambitious 18-month program to increase the team’s use of drones and, already this year, our current drones have lifted during six training exercises and four live incidents. These incidents included assisting in moorland fires, steep ground rescues and medical emergencies.
“Part of that program saw us obtain additional permissions from the Civil Aviation Authority, allowing us to operate drones during the hours of darkness, however, until now we have not been able to utilise these new permissions to their full extent.
“Now we have been gifted this drone, that is equipped with a thermal camera and additional lighting, our drone operations will no longer be held back by nightfall. With many incidents the team attend occurring at dusk or at night-time, this donation really has the potential to make a life-saving contribution to our operations.”
Derbyshire Constabulary explained that as the Buxton Mountain Rescue team are one of the busiest in the Peak District, the UAV would enable them to continue providing “a vital service across the county”.
