Public Safety

Society demands a quick response from its public agencies to emergency situations.  They need a way to decrease their response time, while maintaining control of their already constrained financial resources.  Crises are occurring with ever-greater frequency, including, hostage situations, snipers, terrorist threats, and bomb threats.  Law enforcement requires better methods to address these situations.  Springtails could be utilized to decrease the response time at a reasonable cost.  It would also enable smaller communities, which currently can’t afford air support, to have an air unit supplementing their ground forces.  Just having an air response unit may act as a deterrent.

Springtail-equipped SWAT teams would have a better response time, greater maneuverability and range than ever before.  They could approach threats from almost any direction, and simultaneously place responders or snipers in more locations. (Possibly suspending a sniper in mid-air for the best shot.)

Additional benefits include the ability to:

Customize for law enforcement units by adding Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR), Searchlights, Public Address Systems, Sirens, Aerial Photography and Video Streaming Systems, as well as medical defibrillators, triage supplies, and rescue kits.

Create aerial command stations, to assist in times of crisis, offering a way to identify and communicate alternate routes, quickly respond to emergency situations and provide crowd control.

Help reduce or completely eliminate high-speed chases, by enabling officers to observe, report and tail a suspect from a safe, non-invasive vantage point.

Coordinate a rapid response for search & rescue efforts, especially where children’s lives may be at stake.

Allow air searchers to comb large remote areas more efficiently than their land-based counterparts.

Assist with many routine law enforcement duties including patrol, traffic enforcement, surveillance, police escorts, etc.

^ Top

Emergency Response

The first few minutes after any accident or disaster are the most critical.  Getting to the victims and administering appropriate aide is critical to their survival.  In responding to accidents the responders often become additional unwilling victims.  On April 19, 2002, for example, two New York Fire Department emergency medical technicians were critically injured after their ambulance was struck on the way to a call in Brooklyn.  Three civilians in the car that hit the ambulance were also seriously injured.  The accident happened at about 11 PM as the ambulance, with lights and sirens blaring, was headed to a shooting scene to give aid.  At the intersection of Fountain and Wortman avenues, a car broadsided the ambulance, forcing it to tip over onto its side. A witness said the ambulance was hit so hard it appeared to have been bent in half.

These EMT didn’t make their call, but became an additional emergency call.  In cities ambulances are often delayed in transit due to traffic congestion, causing aid to reach the victims too late.  In rural areas the distances are so great that they cannot be covered in the critical first minutes following an accident. And, accidents don’t always occur in expected or accessible places.  Often as not, accidents occur in places that are difficult to reach: such as off a steep cliff or embankment.

Employing a compact Medivac-type Springtail could save many lives through improved safety and response time.

EMTs will be able to “rise above” traffic, and take the most direct route to the scene.

Response teams won’t interfere with ground-based traffic, or endanger themselves or others responding to the accident.

Springtail could take-off and land in crowded intersections, at the base of cliffs, or in clearings to rescue and assist the injured party.

Response time improvements would allow the administrating of aid prior to the arrival of ground transportation.

Springtail could be used to reach areas that are inaccessible by ground transportation.

^ Top

Firefighters

High-rise buildings present unique fire fighting problems.  Aerial ladders and platforms have a maximum reach of between 50-175 feet.  Modern high-rise buildings are being constructed higher than 1800 feet.  Clearly aerial ladders and platforms are simply not able to reach upper level fires.  Addressing a fire in a relatively short 300-foot high-rise building has its own set of problems.  When aerial ladders and platforms won’t reach firefighters must carry their equipment and hoses up the stairs to the fires. Many fire departments use a standard 100 foot 1.75" hose, weighing approximately 40 to 50 pounds and providing a flow around 150 gpm, to save on weight.  Despite being trained for the difficult task, it is a difficult and dangerous task.

Rural fires have their own set of difficulties.  Fires can be miles from the nearest fire department, and are often hard to find with the myriad of unmarked roads and long driveways found in remote areas.  Distances from the station are often so vast that by the time trucks arrive, what could have been a controllable fire has grown to engulf homes, lives and property.

Springtail can:

Give firefighters a method of transporting larger, and more efficient, 2.5” hose lines to higher floors easily and quickly.

Provide firefighters with the tools to evaluate the situation and communicate the size, location, and best containment tactics to the ground crew, facilitating rapid response.

Help create a remote staging area and exterior command post, providing a safe haven for firefighters to access the situation.

Alert victims and neighbors to the danger, and assist with rooftop and window rescues. Recommend safe evacuation routes.

Use heat-sensitive equipment to identify hot spots and assist in containment efforts.

^ Top

Smokejumpers

Many state and regional governments have departments to fight large-scale forest and grass fires that threaten lives, homes, and businesses. Smoke Jumpers, are brave highly trained firefighters that literally jump (parachute) into remote wild fire locations.  Once they drop into a hotspot, they are responsible for getting out, usually on foot to a waiting ground unit. Occasionally, the very fire they are working on thwarts the best-laid plans. The fire traps them and tragically there is neither escape nor rescue.

Some professional Smoke Jumpers believe that using Springtail to transport them to and from the “line of fire” would greatly reduce their risks.

Springtail operators could spot for their team members more effectively.

Hotspots and trapped personnel could be detected using an infrared (IR) camera mounted on Springtail.

Firefighters could be transported more directly to the fire.

Teams could get closer to a fire area with the resources they need. If winds change, and they become trapped, firefighters could simply re-board their Springtails and fly to safety.

^ Top

Natural Disasters

Real-time firsthand objective information is necessary in effectively assessing and responding to any natural disaster.  Unfortunately, because of the disaster itself, good information is often lacking and as a result resources are frequently misdirected immediately following disasters. Earthquakes, fallen trees, and flooding often close roads making it difficult access the situation.

Springtail offers an aerial platform to coordinate alternate routes of travel.

Multiple units could be launched from several decentralized locations to provide a quicker, more comprehensive response.

Disaster response units could receive real-time information from Springtail to maximize public safety, and coordinate a planned response.

^ Top