BAINBRIDGE, Ohio (WCMH)– Ross County Search and Rescue (SAR) has a new high-tech tool that can be used to look for missing persons, help in rescues and find evidence from a crime.
The $2,500 needed to buy this high-tech drone was donated to the SAR by MedFlight in a pilot program.
Mike Menendez is the Chief for Franklin Township Fire and Commander of the Ross County Search and Rescue, he is also the operator of the state-of-art drone.
The drone has been used in the search for evidence in the six missing and dead Ross County woman. But nothing related to that case has been found so far.
“If there is white clothing, white shoes I am going to spot that,” said Menendez.
An 86-year-old Pike County woman in the late stages of dementia, was located within one hour by the SAR using another drone.
“The Ross County’s Sheriff’s Office use us often, and this is just one more tool to help with whatever they need,” Menendez said.
NBC4 spoke with Yvonne Boggs, missing woman Charlotte Trego’s mother, at a Chillicothe church vigil Friday evening. Boggs said any help is truly appreciated.
“I appreciate them finding new tools to find Charlotte and Wanda both,” she said. “Hopefully they are out there, you know there are a lot of girls missing,” she said.
Trego went missing May of 2014 and Wanda Lemons since last November. “It gives me a lot of hope that they will find her alive. Her and Wanda both, I really pray that something comes of this,” Boggs said.
The high quality pictures and video from this drone are recorded, then enlarged for a closer look. If something is spotted, GPS can pinpoint the scene.
Menendez said during a search and rescue, time is the enemy and quickly locating the scene, could be the difference between life and death.
“Drones have a lot of controversay surrounding them right now and that comes from miscommunications,” said Michael Perkins, MedFlight Regional Director of Southern Ohio.
“Us being a helicopter program, a lot of aircraft in Ohio flying all over the place wanted to collaborate with SAR to make sure the flight paths are not a problem,” he said.
Menendez calls drones the wave of the future in search and rescue.