The use of drones within the fire service has rapidly increased given their life-saving assistance capabilities, and yet many US response departments find themselves without the proper information, knowledge, and experience needed to establish, administer, operate, and maintain a cohesive public safety drone program. This page provides access to FREE online training and a new NFPA drone knowledge base as well as links to tools, research, content, and a related standard.
The use of drones within the fire service has rapidly increased given their life-saving assistance capabilities, and yet many US response departments find themselves without the proper information, knowledge, and experience needed to establish, administer, operate, and maintain a cohesive public safety drone program. This page provides access to FREE online training and a new NFPA drone knowledge base as well as links to tools, research, content, and a related standard.
Training
NFPA has developed a FREE, self-paced, 4-hour online training for fire service drone administrators and operators. The online learning features 360-degree interactive menu navigation, immersive 3D & virtual reality tools, including simulations and gamified content that provide a full suite of educational experiences and badge challenges to confirm knowledge and help responders understand and absorb the important steps needed to establish, operate, document, and maintain an effective public safety drone program.
RegisterDRONE KNOWLEDGEBASE
The goal of this interactive public safety drone knowledgebase is to promote voluntary information-sharing and collaboration amongst US public safety entities that have established drone programs and those seeking to form programs.
NFPA Standard
Research
The Fire Protection Research Foundation, the research affiliate of NFPA, oversaw the research phase of this project to inform the development of the new NFPA drone training and knowledge base. The Foundation looked at drone utilization across all operational settings including structural and wildland firefighting, search & rescue, hazardous material responses, natural disasters, and public events. Organizational deployment, professional qualifications for public safety personnel, and operational applications were considered. See the final report.
The Foundation also conducted a workshop to further explore the needs of the first responder community. Proposed methodologies, gaps, priorities, and recommendations were shared and are captured in the project workshop proceedings.
Related content
From NFPA Journal
- A small army of unmanned aerial robots took flight above deluged streets in Houston, Texas to assess the impact of Hurricane Harvey’s assault
- "Real Guidance" at the time of creating NFPA 2400
- NFPA gets FEMA grant to help advance public safety drone use
- New NFPA training program helps fire departments set up drone programs
From NFPA blogs
- NFPA receives AFG to develop free public safety drone compliance program for the fire service. Project deliverables are outlined
- Drones to the rescue: how drones are helping in the fight against COVID-19
NFPA Fact sheet
- Learn more about the scope of NFPA 2400. You can also download in Spanish.