Local fire chief presents unmanned aerial vehicles in disaster response

How can UAVs improve our response to disaster? The department of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics will host a graduate seminar on Friday, January 25, 3:00 –4:00 in 764 Baldwin Hall. Douglas W. Wehmeyer, MPA, CFO, EFO, and Fire Battalion Chief of Deerfield Township, presents the topic, “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Disaster Response” by sharing real-life experience during and after disasters.

On October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael, a high-end Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph and a minimum central pressure of 919 mbar, just below Category 5, made landfall near Mexico Beach (Bay County), Florida. Based upon pressure, Michael is the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to ever make landfall in the United States and is the first hurricane to reach Georgia as a Category 3, since 1898. Devastation was indescribable and essential infrastructure was wiped out by 14 feet storm surges and winds, including electric and communication lines and the hub of Verizon's cellular network in the region. Bay County's 911 communication and radio network were taken offline by the storm. Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) from across the Mid-West and East Coast responded to the area and it was predicated that initial search operations in Bay County would take 7 days. Vehicular traffic caused gridlock and resulted in 5 hour commute times to obtain intel from regional shelters within Bay County.

Speaker Douglas Wehmeyer is a Battalion Chief with the Deerfield Township Fire Rescue Department in Warren County, Ohio. A thirty-year veteran of the fire service, Chief Wehmeyer has diverse background in emergency services. He holds a Master Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire Science from Anna Maria College and is a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy. In addition to his roles and responsibilities with Deerfield, he serves as the Operations Section Chief for the Butler County, State of Ohio Incident Management Team, a NIMS Type III All-Hazards Incident Management Team that is available for deployment to emergencies throughout the United States. He most recently served as the Shelter Group Supervisor in Bay County, Florida, the point of impact for Hurricane Michael, in the Operations Section at the State of Florida Emergency Operations Center for Hurricane Irma, and as the Operations Section Chief in Baltimore, Maryland responsible for utilizing private contractors to augment municipal services for technical snow removal during the Winter Blizzard of 2016.

Image featured at top: an unmanned aerial vehicle from the aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics department at UC. Photo/UC Creative Services.