In the hours when hundreds of firefighters have work to put out the fire in the Notre-Dame Cathedral, in Paris, the use of some drones has been essential to better coordinate and manage the work of the teams outside and at the interior of the building. Although we associate their use with mostly entertainment purposes, small commercial drones are increasingly used in emergency situations, for example to check for damage caused by a natural disaster, and to manage public order.
As in several other European cities, drones cannot fly in Paris for safety reasons. French authorities have installed systems to create wireless networks that prevent these systems from flying, disrupting the radio frequencies that are used by pilots to keep them in the air and make them move. In special cases, however, some drone manufacturers collaborate with the authorities to unlock the restrictions, so that they can use their drones.
After the fire in Notre-Dame broke out on Monday, April 15, the firefighters reached the area with some drones from the manufacturer DJI, one of the best known and largest in the world, to shoot the cathedral from above and check how the flames were spreading. The drones used are not supplied to the Paris fire brigade, but have been loaned by the ministries of the interior and culture of France.
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– Alexandre Fremont (@alex_fremont) April 15, 2019
The drones were piloted by the Paris Police Drone Unit, which over the years has formed a group of experts to fly these devices around the city. Drones are used in the case of demonstrations or to monitor particular emergencies, usually linked to public order. In this case they were used to film Notre-Dame in flames, transmit the images to some monitors on the ground and allow the firefighters to better coordinate their work.
DJI has not supplied or gifted the drones used in Paris, but has nonetheless confirmed that it has collaborated with city institutions to promote its systems. A spokesperson for them explained that: “The firefighters have now assimilated and made our technology their own, so they can fully adapt it to their needs for search and rescue missions, and to extinguish fires such as that of Notre-Dame.”
Learning that Emergency Response for Notre Dame also included the use of drones, made me feel good. Then seeing a female operator made me proud. Both individually are not common, both together even less. Such a difficult incident to deal with, done with exemplary. pic.twitter.com/Qdh3UIwmer
– Romeo Durscher (@romeoch) April 16, 2019
The spokesman for the Paris fire brigade, Gabriel Plus, told the French newspaper Le Parisien that drones were instrumental in saving Notre-Dame: “The drones allowed us to use correctly what we had at our disposal.” The DJI Mavic Pro and Matrice M210 models were used, mainly to film the roof of the cathedral. On the other hand, it does not seem that thermal cameras have been used to measure the temperature from above in the various points of the building, in order to direct the jets of the hoses towards the hottest areas.
The spire and about two thirds of the roof of the cathedral were destroyed in the Notre-Dame fire. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on the evening of Tuesday 16 April that he wanted to complete the reconstruction and restoration of Notre-Dame within the next five years. According to various observers and experts, however, the times for the reconstruction could be much longer.
The construction of Notre-Dame was started in the twelfth century. Over the years, the cathedral underwent numerous alterations until it took on the aspect we know today in the nineteenth century. In recent years, the building had begun to show various signs of deterioration, mainly caused by air pollution. In 2014 the French Ministry of Culture estimated that a restoration could cost at least 150 million euros, a subscription by the Archdiocese of Paris had also been initiated. The work in progress just before the fire was dedicated to the restoration of the spire, with an estimated cost of around 6 million euros. After the fire, private funds of over one billion euros were pledged for reconstruction.
