Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Warm and humid. Low near 75F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..
Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Warm and humid. Low near 75F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Matt Power Ashaway, the beach manager at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, operates a Mavic 3 drone on Blue Shutters Beach, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. | Tim Martin, The Westerly Sun.
Matt Power Ashaway, the beach manager at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, operates a Mavic 3 drone on Blue Shutters Beach, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. | Tim Martin, The Westerly Sun.
Matt Power Ashaway, the beach manager at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, operates a Mavic 3 drone on Blue Shutters Beach, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. | Tim Martin, The Westerly Sun.
Matt Power Ashaway, the beach manager at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, operates a Mavic 3 drone on Blue Shutters Beach, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. | Tim Martin, The Westerly Sun.
Matt Power Ashaway, the beach manager at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, operates a Mavic 3 drone on Blue Shutters Beach, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. | Tim Martin, The Westerly Sun.
Matt Power Ashaway, the beach manager at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, operates a Mavic 3 drone on Blue Shutters Beach, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. | Tim Martin, The Westerly Sun.
Matt Power Ashaway, the beach manager at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, operates a Mavic 3 drone on Blue Shutters Beach, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. | Tim Martin, The Westerly Sun.
Matt Power Ashaway, the beach manager at Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, operates a Mavic 3 drone on Blue Shutters Beach, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. | Tim Martin, The Westerly Sun.
CHARLESTOWN — On a dreary but humid Friday morning, 20-year-old beach manager Matt Power stood along the sands at Blue Shutters Town Beach as he sought to determine whether conditions were safe to allow the public to begin swimming.
A few visitors had reported possible marine life in the water, so Power grabbed a protective bag containing one of the Charlestown Parks and Recreation Department’s newest tools: a DJI Mavic 3 precision camera drone.
With just a few minutes, Power had the drone set on a flat board and switched on a video control panel system just slightly larger than a Nintendo Switch Lite. Soon after, beachgoers and lifeguards watched as he drove the drone steadily over the water and paused, leaving the drone balanced with the camera facing towards the water.
“I can see straight through,” Power said, his eyes still locked on the display screen as he zoomed in, using a special lens to eliminate glare and see well beyond the surface. “It’s all clear.”
It was a simple use for the new equipment, but only one of many ways in which drones are becoming an everyday part of operations at Charlestown town beaches, an effort that provides new ways to improve safety and enhance services. The program was implemented in late 2021, and both Recreation Director Vicky Hilton and GIS Coordinator Stephen McCandless said this week that the possible uses are nearly endless.
The concept is one that was first developed in 2015 and was brought to the town’s attention and before the Charlestown Budget Commission in the previous fiscal year. Led by McCandless with Hilton’s full support, the commission approved the program and efforts began last July to implement it.
The town currently owns two fully operational recording-ready camera drones, a Mavic 2 and Mavic 3, and has ordered two additional units. McCandless, who also serves as a volunteer firefighter in the community, is an FAA trained and certified pilot as are Power and Connor Montegue, who both obtained their licensing last September. Staff members Luke Sloam and Lucas Segura are also both currently taking courses to earn certification.
The equipment can be a little expensive up front — each drone sells for between $2,000 and $3,000 on average, not including command modules or additional networking equipment — and costs for the FAA licensing course and fees are currently an additional $300 per person. Licensing must be renewed every two years, McCandless said, while equipment is expected to last approximately five years.
Training includes an online class and course work, followed by a certification test. The course focuses on air space and flight safety components, and certification requires all drone pilots to show a knowledge and understanding of the same safety protocols that even commercial pilots must adhere to.
“It is a fairly intensive course,” he said. “Our goal is to get to a point where we will have four trained staff available, such that we are able to respond quickly to either of the two town beaches.”
When it comes to patrolling beaches, safety remains the top priority for lifeguards. Hilton said the job involves making sure that there are no hazards on land or in the water, assuring that everyone is following rules and remaining safe, and responding in the event of a medical emergency.
The drone can assist with every aspect of the job, from general scans to search and rescue missions, she said.
“One of the biggest concerns we hear about is sharks,” Hilton said. “With a drone, we can send a camera up to see below and determine very quickly whether a fin is something harmless like a sunfish, or something more.”
Having a camera for “shark watching” is an exciting use, Hilton admits, but it is hardly a good enough justification for the program. Fortunately, the drones do quite a bit more than that.
Hilton and McCandless both said the drones can be a tremendous tool when it comes to search and rescue efforts, whether on land or in the water. If there is concern about a missing swimmer, trained staff can utilize a drone overhead to search for possible victims, even potentially dropping an inflatable life preserver in the right conditions.
On land in the event of a missing child, for example, the drone program would also allow for a lightning fast response that otherwise couldn’t be accomplished with manpower alone.
“Let’s say you were looking for a younger child with a yellow shirt. We could set up two drones, one at each end of the beach, and have them start outside and work towards the middle,” he explained. “In a matter of minutes, we could scan every inch from one end of the beach to the other, and could zoom in on any section where that child may be.”
In other situations, the drone could also be used to help identify and address issues within parking lots or with traffic in the local area as well.
Since implementing the program, the town has also received a lot of interest and inquiries from surrounding communities, both Hilton and McCandless said. Hopkinton and Richmond public responders have reached out to express interest in learning more, and Block Island has leaned on McCandless for guidance as officials there consider possible drone use.
Locally, McCandless said he believes the town could benefit from maintaining the drone program with four staff members each summer. For the community, he doesn’t see the need for the program to be much bigger just yet.
“I think we have a sustainable, beneficial program here that we can maintain at a minimal cost per year,” he said with a smile.
“The next step will be convincing the budget commission, and we are working on that already,” Hilton joked.
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