Emergency service workers in Penn Hills will now be heading into calls equipped with thermal imaging technology.
Penn Hills Volunteer Fire Company No. 7, Station 227 at 125 Universal Road, was able to purchase a thermal imaging drone for various departments to use during emergency calls.
According to William Jeffcoat, No. 7’s chief, the drone was made possible by a $12,500 donation from Sri Venkateswara Temple in Penn Hills.
A donation like this, Jeffcoat said, is unheard of.
Thulasiram Rajan, chairman of the Hindu temple’s board, said the donation falls in line with the temple’s mission to give back to the communities that surround the temple.
“We do a lot toward the community,” Rajan said. “Being in Penn Hills, I feel that we are responsible for serving the community.”
S.V. Temple is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. In its five decades, the temple has given back to the community in the form of food drives, monetary donations and scholarships to the surrounding school districts — Penn Hills, Pittsburgh Public, Woodland Hills and Gateway.
“The temple is not only focused on the (members),” Rajan said. “We extend ourselves to contributions in terms of humanitarian, educational, cultural and so on.”
S.V. Temple has about 150 trustees, nearly 300 worshippers and about 15 board directors.
Fundraising for the drone came about in the winter after the department assisted in an emergency call where two people fled from a crime scene in a car. In the process, they crashed the car and ran. Officers were stuck pursuing one of the people on foot through the woods, Jeffcoat said.
The fire department began emailing local organizations, including S.V. Temple, to gauge interest in making a donation toward the drone.
Jeffcoat said S.V. Temple responded and offered to pay for the drone in full.
“We usually don’t have organizations taking that much of a buy-in,” Jeffcoat said.
Rajan said the donation was a way to help all emergency response departments in the community since use of the drone will benefit everyone. Penn Hills has six volunteer fire companies.
Jeffcoat said his fire department reached out to Penn Hills police to make the drone a joint asset.
“It’s been on our wish list for quite a while,” Jeffcoat said.
Like many other fire departments in the country, Penn Hills No. 7 is doing more with less.
Its ladder truck recently needed about $15,000 in engine repairs, Jeffcoat said. Less than a month later, a second truck’s engine issues required $10,000 of department funds to fix.
The recent expenditures make S.V. Temple’s donation all the more valuable.
“People give what they can, and we’re extremely appreciative of that,” Jeffcoat said. “This is something that goes above and beyond the norm. We want to shed light on that in any way we can.”
The technology use
The drone can be used in various scenarios and makes emergency situations safer and more efficient for first responders.
Jeffcoat said the technology can be used in various scenarios such as identifying hot spots in a fire, searching for missing persons and mapping perimeters while searching for suspects. The drone also can cover more ground in less time than first responders on foot.
“We want everyone to return home safe,” Jeffcoat said. “We don’t want anyone injured, especially by something that could’ve been prevented. We would gladly surrender a machine or hardware so an officer or firefighter doesn’t have to sacrifice themselves.”
Jeffcoat said as many as 20 of his fire department’s volunteers will complete training and earn licenses to operate the drone. About 10 people between Penn Hills police and EMS crews also are training to be licensed.
“This would not be possible without (S.V. Temple’s) kindness and generosity,” Jeffcoat said.