Austin-Travis County EMS 2022 Annual Report

EMS Spartan unmanned aeria Systems (UAS)

The EMS SPARTAN UAS Team continued to be active in all aspects of drone mission support across the City of Austin, Travis County, and the Capitol Area Region. SPARTAN Remote Pilots in Command (rPICs) flew over 175 mission hours supporting multiple emergency incidents, special events, and other events requiring overwatch by aerial drones. EMS SPARTAN added two additional AUTEL® EVO II Enterprise drone systems bringing our fleet of drones up to 12 mission-capable UAS craft. We also held another UAS Remote Pilot School (with six personnel graduating from the 5-day course) bringing our team to a total of 24 certified pilots. One of the highlights of 2022 was one of our SPARTAN aircraft capturing live footage of a shooting on 6th St. during the 2022 Spring festival season. The live stream drone footage provided to the Incident Command Post changed how officers responded to the incident. SPARTAN rPICs also recorded the response of our RTFs, SRUs, and Motorcycle Medics to the medical incident. As response types evolve, so does our deployment of new technology. Drone use within the public safety realm has increased 200 times in the last five years. Deploying these assets provide vital intelligence on larger or more complex scenes.

OPERATING ON 6 DIFFERENT PLATFORMS

PROVIDING COVERAGE FROM EVERY ANGLE

NIGHT OPS WITH IR AND THERMAL CAMERAS

DEPLOYABLE 24/7 21