Looking for agencies that use drones in hazmat response. Is a drone just for oversight or can you do more? Monitoring with a drone, thermal drone - what is your vision of the best hazmat drone?
Hazmat Drone ?
- Thread starter PWidmayer
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A drone can be a great asset to Hazmat response. An RGB camera can be launched from a safe distance outside the hazard zone and quickly identify any UN or other identifying placards on the outside of a barrel or tanker that may have flipped, giving responders heads-up on what they may be dealing with prior to suiting up. With a good thermal sensor, you can evaluate spill zone and quantity as well as remaining liquid still in any damaged tanker or container. Thermal sensors can't detect the level of gas, but under some circumstances, they can detect the uncontrolled release of liquified flammables. Liquified flammables being released under uncontrolled circumstances (A leak) create a chemical reaction which results in a extreme decrease in temp which under the right circumstances can be detected by a thermal sensor
The attached thermogram (Raw and not tuned) is of the water tank behind my house. The distinct line near the top of the tank is the level of water. This tank is almost completely full. FYI Further tuning helped to determine that the mixer was in good working order and that there was not visible sediment build up in the tank
The attached thermogram (Raw and not tuned) is of the water tank behind my house. The distinct line near the top of the tank is the level of water. This tank is almost completely full. FYI Further tuning helped to determine that the mixer was in good working order and that there was not visible sediment build up in the tank
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We have a thermal imaging camera in our tool box but no one has been properly trained in thermography. Point and shoot looks easy but we should be trained in how to read the image better. Anyway thanks for the response. I do appreciate it.
Phaedrus
Well-Known Member
I'm an environmental consultant. We use a drone in our work to do initial documentation of a site, monitor job progress, and to document completion. We do a lot of excavation of contaminated soils and some of the sites can be fairly large. The drone helps cover a site, especially on initial site visits.
We are also doing some oilfield work and are documenting several oil production sites in urban areas and may move into doing some fugitive emissions monitoring (mostly methane) in the future.
For straight up incident response a drone is a great tool to obtain a rapid high quality view of what is going on from a variety of angles. After that the type of incident will dictate what tasks a drone may be helpful with.
We are also doing some oilfield work and are documenting several oil production sites in urban areas and may move into doing some fugitive emissions monitoring (mostly methane) in the future.
For straight up incident response a drone is a great tool to obtain a rapid high quality view of what is going on from a variety of angles. After that the type of incident will dictate what tasks a drone may be helpful with.
Drones are great tools and every day there is a new task added to the portfolio. Now with Pix4d React quick incident mapping can happen. Thanks for the information.
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Earthman
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Interesting photo of the water tank.
I know a guy who managed a team at Hughes Aircraft in the ‘70s that developed FLIR technology or adapted it for military targeting applications. On test flights they photographed storage tanks at oil refineries in CA during the gasoline shortage in ‘73 and ‘74. This effectively inventoried oil reserves that the oil companies claimed were low, but the tanks were full! This weapon development work was secret at the time, so Hughes couldn’t mention what they saw to anyone. I saw copies of the B&W photos years later.
It’s amazing that FLIR cameras are so small and easy to use now.
Did anyone start using The FLIR MUVETM C360? I wonder if the turbulence produced by the propellers affects the reading, as the LEL for example
