AUSTINTOWN — The township will soon have a new way to respond to emergencies, with greater speed and safety for all concerned.

Austintown Fire Department is one of nine agencies across Ohio selected for the Drone First Responder Pilot Program, a collaborative effort by Drive Ohio and the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The program will provide drone-in-a-box models, made by one of four manufacturers — Brinc, Skydio, Parrot and Nightingale Security — that use Skyfire AI software.

“These are designed to arrive at a scene and put eyes on the situation in advance of first responders’ arrival, and it allows us to make more informed operations decisions,” said Township Administrator Mark D’Apolito. “It has the effect of improving safety for first responders and the public, as well as being fiscally responsible, because there’s a cost and a risk every time we deploy personnel and vehicles to a scene. So for them to be making informed decisions about how to deploy our response and assets, that helps manage some of the risk.”

Austintown will receive two of the drones in March and they should be ready for use by June. The state also selected Amherst police, Athens police; Hamilton police, fire and EMS; Kelleys Island fire and EMS; Lima police; Springfield police, fire and EMS; Toledo police; and Violet Township fire and EMS.

The grant, submitted through Drive Ohio, will reimburse the township within about 30 days for the $250,000 upfront cost of the program.

“Once we get the drones and have the invoice and show it’s paid, we’ll be reimbursed that money,” said Austintown fire Captain Tom Metzinger, who wrote the grant application.

Metzinger proposed the program at last week’s trustees meeting, and while the board was receptive, they were skeptical enough of the cost that the discussion required them to retire into executive session.

“They came out of executive session and approved the grant. They just needed to learn a little bit more about some of the inner workings of the program and the technology,” D’Apolito said. “We’re very excited to deploy the technology and very optimistic that there will be continued grant programs that allow us to keep it in place.”

The drones will be available for fire, police, and EMS purposes, Metzinger said.

The police department has had three drones for several years, but Chief Valorie Delmont said two of them are not in good condition and one requires a great deal of maintenance.

The other concern the township has is that last year’s National Defense Authorization Act banned the use of any drones manufactured with Chinese technology, for fear of espionage. The drones Austintown will receive are made by approved manufacturers and NDAA compliant.

D’Apolito also said these drones do not replace smaller-models that can be easily deployed from vehicles. He did not say if the township will be exploring means to obtain replacements for the police department’s regular drones, but Delmont has said that is an item on her wish list if the township can support it.

Metzinger said the program pays for the training of the township’s designated drone operators, all of whom will obtain a Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 pilot license. They also will receive mission-specific training, like dealing with structure fires, missing persons, crimes in progress and other emergencies.

Metzinger said the value for his department alone cannot be overstated.

“Until I get there and really get eyes on it, I can’t come up with an action plan,” he said. “This allows me to see it on the way, so I can make those decisions and come up with an incident action plan. Whereas, those decisions are usually made within seconds of arrival, now this is going to be done en route, and we go in with an understanding of the incident and what everybody’s roles will be.”

He said it also enables emergency services to gauge and employ a proportionate response.

“By being able to get eyes on the scene more rapidly, it allows us to downgrade our response,” he said. Rushing trucks with lights and sirens to the turnpike, for example – which can take 12 to 14 minutes – means putting first responders and the public at risk. With a drone that can be there in two minutes, responders will know exactly what is necessary and send the right personnel and vehicle in a timely fashion.

D’Apolito said it can help avoid mistakes as well.

“We had a recent call where it turned out to be a false alarm. Somebody thought they witnessed something, it was in inclement weather, and we had a fireman injured en route to the scene,” he said. “Had we had a drone, I can assure you we would have modified the response and reduced the risk to our first responders.”

Metzinger also said he understands public concerns about privacy where drones are concerned.

“This technology is used only when someone calls 911 and it gets them help quicker.

It’s not used for patrolling, it’s getting dispatched with police and fire going to critical incidents,” he said.

Metzinger said the drones record video but not audio, along with flight path and flight telemetry, all information that can be used later for training purposes.

“We’ll also have a public facing dashboard, so the public can see what it’s been used on and how it’s been used,” he said.

He said township officials will be meeting with drone vendors in Springfield next week.