Oklahoma first responders use a thermal drone to locate a missing two-year-old. On January 21st, a little boy named Levi disappeared from his home in Clinton, Oklahoma. When his family noticed he was missing, they frantically searched for him. “The way my heart dropped when I walked in and he didn’t run to me,” says the toddler’s mom.
After looking for Levi for ten minutes, the family made the decision to contact the authorities, prompting a multi-agency search effort. “You don’t want to wait around and see if maybe you’ll find him,” Levi's mom says, “I think I made the right call.”
Clinton police and firefighters were helped in the search by the Elk City Fire Department, who brought a thermal drone and began an aerial search for Levi. Within 10 minutes, the drone picked up Levi’s thermal image, about a quarter-mile from the boy's home, under a tree in some thick brush. Authorities were quickly able to get the toddler and reunite him with his grateful family.
- Following the incident, the community raised money to buy the Clinton Fire Department their own thermal drone.
Source: KOCO