The Clark County Fire Department has received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate a small “unmanned aircraft systems”– commonly referred to as a drone. This is the first Certificate of Authorization approved in Nevada under the FAA’s new “Public Safety Blanket COA” process.
Under the leadership of Chief Gregory Cassell, CCFD initiated this application as part of a visionary program to use UAS to address specific challenges of fire service response. This is the first UAS COA for CCFD, and is supported by Praxis Aerospace Concepts International as the COA-designated Point of Contact.
CCFD’s innovative approach integrates small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) support into firefighting missions such as hazardous materials spill response, public safety, life preservation missions, gathering photographic and video images over disaster scenes and fire areas, and training missions. Initial operations will focus on training firefighter flight crews and validating procedures for the department.
Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc. is best known in the unmanned systems industry for its White Label services, supporting FAA UAS Test Sites, Universities and corporate partners with Robotics Management, Technical Services and Autonomous Technology Testing. PACI is a partner of ASSURE, the FAA’s UAS Center of Excellence. “UAS integration into emergency response operations will save time, resources and money while keeping firefighters safer than ever before,” said Jonathan Daniels, CEO, Praxis Aerospace Concepts International, Inc. “Chief Cassell and his staff at CCFD have been a fantastic proponent during the development of this program over the last year”.
Watch local news coverage “Clark County Fire Department receives drone license from FAA” with additional information here