DISASTER RESPONSE
ENHANCE YOUR EMERGENCY OPERATIONS
Thermal drones have become a vital tool in disaster response and emergency management, with agencies and organizations across the country adopting them to boost situational awareness, coordination, and recovery efforts. These UAS platforms equipped with infrared sensors provide reliable overhead detection of heat signatures and environmental changes in challenging conditions—like flooding, debris fields, chemical releases, or multi-victim scenarios—helping teams assess threats faster while minimizing risks to responders.
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Real-time feeds can be streamed to both the command site and remotely to an emergency operations center, allowing commanders and stakeholders to refine strategies, identify hazards, and direct multi-agency efforts more precisely.
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Establishing and maintaining an in-house UAS program offers the most direct control and customization, but involves complexities and ongoing commitments. Departments must navigate FAA regulations (including Part 107 certification), develop operational procedures, secure appropriate insurance, invest in equipment (ranging from $5,000 to $30,000+), provide continual training, manage maintenance, and address operational risks.
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Establishing and maintaining an in-house UAS program offers the most direct control and customization, but involves complexities and ongoing commitments. Agencies must navigate FAA regulations (including Part 107 certification), develop operational procedures, secure appropriate insurance, invest in equipment (ranging from $5,000 to $30,000+), provide continual training, manage maintenance, and address operational risks.
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Skyline Aerial Solutions simplifies this by offering FAA-certified, public safety-trained drone operators on an as-available, on-demand basis. This approach lets emergency management agencies, EMS providers, law enforcement, hospitals, coast guard/maritime teams, forestry/wildlife services, and volunteer/non-profit organizations access professional thermal drone support without the overhead of building and sustaining their own fleet or team. Services are deployed quickly for missions, providing the same high-quality aerial intelligence at a fraction of the long-term cost and administrative burden.
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These capabilities support NFPA 2400 standards for small UAS in public safety, delivering actionable intelligence to the Incident Command Post while emphasizing that drones are expendable. Your team is not.
APPLICATIONS
MULTI-VICTIM INCIDENTS
In large-scale emergencies with multiple victims—such as mass casualty events, transportation accidents, or active shooter scenarios—drones perform wide-area thermal scans to locate survivors, detect heat signatures in debris or crowds, and map triage zones. Real-time infrared feeds identify individuals in need of urgent care, while visual overlays support resource allocation and evacuation routing. Services include Size Up (rapid aerial assessment of incident scope and hazards) and Personnel Accounting (tracking responder safety and location), enabling coordinated efforts among EMS, law enforcement, and hospitals without exposing teams to unstable areas.
FLOODING & DISASTER RESPONSE
During floods, storms, earthquakes, or other natural disasters, drones enable broad monitoring of affected zones to identify stranded individuals, assess infrastructure damage, and detect secondary hazards like gas leaks or unstable structures through thermal differentials. High-resolution RGB feeds provide 360-degree views for perimeter evaluations, while dual-sensor thermal imaging maps water levels, debris flows, and survivor locations—even in low-visibility conditions. Pre- and post-mission orthomosaics aid in recovery planning, resource staging, and integration with emergency management systems. For forestry/wildlife services, this extends to evaluating environmental impacts, such as flood-damaged habitats or wildlife displacement.
CHEMICAL & HAZARDOUS MATERIAL INCIDENTS
In hazardous material spills, chemical releases, industrial accidents, or CBRN threats, thermal drones track vapor plumes, detect exothermic reactions or heat differentials indicating leaks, and map contamination zones from a safe standoff distance. This supports plume modeling, evacuation perimeters, decontamination priorities, and air quality monitoring while minimizing exposure for hazmat teams, law enforcement, coast guard/maritime responders, and volunteers. Additional capabilities include Fire Risk Assessment (2D/3D orthomosaic terrain mapping for preventative evaluations) and Hotspot Detection (identifying ignition risks in volatile environments), integrating seamlessly with ICS for coordinated multi-agency response.
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT & INFRASTRUCTURE EVALUATION
Post-disaster or during ongoing events, drones provide rapid aerial surveys to catalog structural impacts, debris fields, compromised access routes, and uninhabitable buildings. Thermal anomaly detection pinpoints trapped individuals in rubble or flooded areas via heat differentials, while RGB imaging generates georeferenced reports and 3D models for recovery planning, insurance claims, and resource prioritization. This supports EMA, hospitals, and volunteer groups in assessing uninhabitable structures and staging aid effectively.
TRAFFIC CONTROL & LIVESTOCK RECOVERY
In emergency-related traffic incidents (e.g., post-flood road closures, evacuation congestion), drones assess road status, detect stranded vehicles, and monitor congestion to accelerate clearance and refine evacuation paths. For rural or disaster-impacted areas, thermal scanning locates missing livestock or pets in farmlands, wooded zones, darkness, or dense cover (e.g., stranded animals causing hazards), with RGB for condition assessment and live feeds guiding recovery teams—mitigating broader risks like traffic incidents or community safety concerns.
I.R.I.S. NETWORK
INTEGRATED REAL-TIME INCIDENT SUPPORT
I.R.I.S. NETWORK
Skyline Aerial Solutions provides verified public safety agencies, emergency responders, and related organizations in select regions of Western Washington with access to professional thermal-capable UAS services on an on-demand, as-available basis through the I.R.I.S. Network (Integrated Realtime Incident Support). This collaborative program enables diverse operations to leverage advanced drone capabilities for real-time incident support—such as multi-victim triage, flood assessments, hazmat monitoring, and disaster recovery—without the need to build and maintain their own internal UAS program.
HOW TO JOIN
Public safety agencies and organizations interested in participating begin by completing the I.R.I.S. Network Application. Eligibility is limited to verified entities within the primary service areas (Thurston, Pierce, Mason, Lewis, and Grays Harbor counties), and subject to current program bandwidth and capacity.
Following application review, a phone or in-person consultation is scheduled to discuss the organization's specific operational needs, integration requirements, and incident response protocols. This step ensures alignment with existing Incident Command System (ICS) structures and confirms that Skyline Aerial Solutions' capabilities are a suitable fit.
AVAILABILITY
The program operates on a flexible, as-available model, meaning deployments are provided when resources align with the request. This approach supports rapid response for urgent needs (prioritizing life-safety incidents) while maintaining realistic expectations around scheduling constraints.
PRICING STRUCTURE
Membership includes a one-time set-up fee to cover initial coordination, system integration, and any agency-specific equipment or service adaptations (starting at $500, plus costs for specialized add-ons or equipment if required).
Ongoing deployments follow a transparent, pay-per-use structure:
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Travel Time: $50 per hour (portal-to-portal from base).
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On-Site/Flight Time: $175 per hour.
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Thermal Equipment Use: $50 per hour (covers specialized infrared sensors and enhanced operational expertise).
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Rates are billed in 15-minute increments after a 2-hour minimum to account for mobilization and setup. Additional fees may apply for extended operations, advanced data deliverables, or same-day/emergency premiums (20–50%). Day rates are available for longer incidents. Discounts for repeat clients or volunteer departments. Exact quotes are provided during the consultation based on anticipated mission profiles.
Example (for a 6-hour deployment): Travel (1.5 hours) = $75; On-site (4.5 hours) = $787.50; Thermal use (4.5 hours) = $225; Total: $1,087.50.