When a fire broke out at a petroleum tank farm in West Tulsa last November, crews from the Tulsa Fire Department arrived at a scene that had already been sized up, mapped out and live-streamed to command. Seven drones circled the plume tracking wind direction, identifying structural hazards and pinpointing hot spots all before the first firefighter stepped onto the scene.
It wasn’t a fluke. It was the future of firefighting, in action.
What used to be a best guess, relying on dispatch information, eyewitness accounts, or boots-on-the-ground reports, is now a precise, high-resolution and heat-mapping view from the sky. Increasingly, that view is becoming standard operating procedure.
Across the country, fire departments large and small are embracing drone technology not as a flashy tool but as a fundamental part of their mission, just as they use any other tool- to protect lives, property and the firefighters themselves.
Jason LaFond
Fire doubles in size every thirty seconds. For decades, fire departments have trained to beat that clock by shaving minutes off dispatch times, response routes and deployment protocols. However, a growing number of departments are dialing back the clock by gaining situational awareness before first-due units arrive, allowing firefighters to begin scene size-up and mobilize the right resources before they even arrive on the scene.
Drones offer a simple but powerful advantage- they get there first. In under 20 seconds, a drone can be autonomously deployed from a dock on a roof and airborne, streaming live thermal and EO video back to responding units and incident command. That changes everything; resource deployment, size-up, evacuation orders and even the decision to send firefighters in at all.
Gabriel Gravevine, EMS officer and drone operator at Tulsa Fire said: “DFR (Drones as First Responders) changes everything. It allows us to make more informed decisions and do more with less… just based off having something that can be on scene before we are.”
That shift is now playing out across departments like Phoenix and hurricane-battered Manatee County, FL, as well as smaller regional outfits responding to brushfires, hazmat incidents and structure fires in suburban and rural areas.
Drones are no longer a luxury or toy of a few select fire departments, but an essential tool to serve their communities.
Every firefighter knows the risk of the unknown. A thick wall of smoke can hide structural collapse. A blocked exit can trap a crew. A thermal pocket can reignite an extinguished blaze. Drones don’t eliminate risk—but they replace guesswork with intel.
In real-time, drones provide; live aerial video for incident command, thermal imaging to identify hot spots and evaluate fire load as well as continous egress monitoring for firefighter safety.
Jason LaFond
This is alongside assessment of wind direction and spread for wildfires, structural integrity checks before exterior entry and coordination across multiple agencies and jurisdictions.
The result is faster, smarter, safer decisions.
Rich Gatanis, Hazmat technician with Southern Manatee Fire Rescue in Florida said: “At the end of the day, I’m trying to do everything I can to make it safer for our guys and the people we’re working for. DFR is definitely the next big thing”.
The shift isn’t limited to active fires.
Once a fire is contained, drones are reshaping the way departments investigate, document and learn from each response.
Instead of manually photographing every angle of a scene, autonomous drones can map a site in minutes, providing detailed 2D and 3D models for apparatus placement training, fire investigations, insurance documentation or legal proceedings.
For departments using platforms like Skydio’s 3D Scan, those reconstructions can be stored, studied and shared for internal training or public accountability. With built-in integrations to systems like Axon Evidence, fire departments can maintain compliance without complicating workflows.
The petroleum tank farm fire that erupted in West Tulsa in November 2024 posed a complex and volatile threat. In a traditional response, Tulsa Fire would have had to rely on ground-level reports, slow perimeter sweeps and limited visual intel as they approached an active hazmat scene. Smoke drift across the river would’ve gone largely unmonitored, and real-time coordination across teams would’ve been hampered by radio relay and uncertainty.
Instead, the department launched seven Skydio drones, some manually and others from a fixed-location drone station across the Arkansas River. Within minutes, they had consistent overhead views, thermal imaging of potential hotspots and live video streaming back to incident command. This allowed them to track smoke movement, assess exposure risks in real-time, and coordinate containment without putting firefighters unnecessarily in harm’s way.
Eight pilots worked in concert, spanning experience levels, all feeding intelligence into a unified view. It was a 21st century emergency response executed at scale.
Tulsa’s success has since become a blueprint. With strong local support, the city is investing in drone training programs with local universities and establishing itself as a national hub for aerial public safety innovation.
Jason LaFond
For other departments considering how to scale their own programs, Tulsa’s integrated, multi-drone response is no longer the exception but the benchmark.
The department wrote in a public statement: “Capabilities like this allow for a quicker and safer response to scenes and allow us to serve our citizens more efficiently.”
While the broader trend is clear: drones are becoming a core tool for fire service, and the platform behind the drone still matters. Not all drones are created equal.
Skydio has emerged as the drone of choice for many U.S. fire departments, not only because it’s designed, assembled, and supported in the United States, but because it’s built with first responders in mind.
Key features that make Skydio’s platform uniquely suited for fire response include autonomous flight and obstacle avoidance for deployment in dense, chaotic environments and radiometric thermal imaging for precise temperature mapping. As well as real-time streaming for multiple devices, on-scene and remote and Skydio 3D Scan for autonomous scene reconstruction.
Skydio’s latest model, the Skydio X10, was developed in close collaboration with public safety partners to ensure the hardware and software meet the demands of real-world emergencies.
Jason LaFond
Tony Watts Sr., a Special Projects Director at the Detroit Fire Department said: “We had a structural collapse we used the drones for thermal imaging to identify any potential trapped victims and then we did what’s called an overwatch where we flew over the space to identify access points for our technical rescue team, again, all designed to keep people working as safe as possible.”
The adoption of drones in the fire service is no longer a novelty but an operational shift that’s steadily becoming the norm. Departments are no longer asking whether drones have a role in emergency response. They’re asking how best to integrate them.
Some agencies begin with targeted use cases such as supporting hazmat response, providing overwatch at fires, or capturing post-incident documentation. Others are building full Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs that embed drones into the initial dispatch process and utilize docks to build an autonomous response network. And in more advanced departments, drones are being folded into the same workflows as radios or thermal imagers.
This evolution is being supported from all sides: FAA waivers are becoming more accessible. Training programs and certifications are expanding. And most importantly, the results speak for themselves. Departments in Tulsa, Phoenix and dozens of others are proving that aerial intelligence doesn’t just enhance response, it also changes the outcome for both community members and the safety of first responders.
As more departments see what’s possible, drones are no longer a future investment but a present necessity.
The fire service is deeply rooted in tradition, which can make the adoption of new technologies a slow and challenging process. Nevertheless, many progressive and innovative departments are embracing change and leading the way forward.
Jason LaFond
Drones represent the next significant advancement- offering a mission-critical aerial perspective that enhances situational awareness and helps firefighters safeguard lives, property and communities. Drones are simply the next leap forward as a set of eyes in the sky that help firefighters protect what matters most.
Not every call needs a drone. But when every second counts, having one ready can mean the difference between rescue and regret. Real-time aerial intelligence helps firefighters make informed decisions, deploy the right resources and stay safe.
The new normal is here and for departments using Skydio, it’s not science fiction. It’s standard operating procedure.
