View the 2 info cards for Helsinki below: Fire monitoring Rescue Services and Delivery of emergency medical products.
Fire monitoring Helsinki City Rescue Services
Location
Helsinki, Uusimaa region, Finland
Stakeholder Category
Municipality
Stakeholder Name
Helsinki City Rescue Department
Operational Scope/Business Use Case
Rescue & Fire-Fighting Service
Authorised by
Traficom (Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Civil Aviation Authority)
Activities
The Helsinki City Rescue Department has deployed drones for fire monitoring purposes since 2020. They are used principally for addressing fires in buildings, apartments and detached houses within the urban Helsinki area. Their role is more reactive than proactive, meaning that drones are deployed in the operational phase when firefighters are called to extinguish the fire. The deployed drones by the Helsinki City Rescue Department are equipped with thermal cameras and lights in order to serve their purpose and become suitable for fire monitoring services. The drone flies above and around the building on fire and gives to firefighters a picture of the fire situation including hotspots, fire spread direction and dynamics as well as location of trapped victims. Based on this picture, the firefighters on duty outline and execute the fire emergency action / response plan. Until now, the drones are flown within visual line of sight.
Benefits
The top three benefits identified for citizens when drones are used by the local Rescue Department for fire monitoring purposes are the following:
- the deployment of drones for such purposes enhance the situational awareness level and provide a quick assessment of the fire situation. As a result, the safety of citizens is increased as the fire does not spread further within the city.
- firefighters get with the help of drones a clear picture of the situation within the building on fire and can thus, save lives in the case of trapped victims alongside properties.
- the use of drones in fire monitoring missions accelerate response time and enhance the possibility of a successful rescue mission with citizens rescued from fire.
Website
Project website
Contact
Petri Korhonen
Fire officer
tel: +358405433851
petri.j.korhonen [at] hel.fi (petri[dot]j[dot]korhonen[at]hel[dot]fi)
AiRMOUR : Delivery of emergency medical products to an ad hoc location
Location
Helsinki, Uusimaa Region, Finland
Coordinates for the drone’s take-off point at Kaivopuisto, Helsinki: 60.15412141929472, 24.958811958374618
Coordinates for the drone’s landing site at Suomenlinna island, Helsinki: 60.14631619633777, 24.98988563855952
Stakeholder Category
EU Funded Project called AiRMOUR, under the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation funding programme’s umbrella aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness.
Stakeholder Name(s)
- VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd
- Forum Virium Helsinki
- The Governing Body of Suomenlinna Island
- City of Helsinki (various departments)
Operational Scope/Business Use Case
Medicine Delivery
Authorised by
Specific Operation Risk Assessment (SORA), approved by Traficom, the Finnish Civil Aviation Authority.
Activities
AiRMOUR has been a research project with its primary focus on the emergency medical services and how these can be supported by drones. Three different scenarios were validated during 2022-2023 in real-life demonstrations in three EU cities, one of which was Helsinki. The demonstration took place in the Finnish capital in April 2023, where there was a drone flight from the Helsinki City’s mainland to the Suomenlinna island. An island closely located to the city with around 800 permanent inhabitants and a million yearly tourists, which is accessible only by ferry and as such hinders immediate response by the local emergency medical services.
In particular, this specific drone flight was operated to validate the scenario of urgent healthcare deliveries to a destination not based on a pre-planned flight route. The scenario was placed within the scope of the project and executed on a script basis. It included surveying of residents and passers-by. The particular case was an emergency delivery of an epipen by drone to a patient experiencing an acute allergy shock on the island. The drone landed on the accident spot with the epipen after having flown nearly 2 km from the mainland to the island.
Benefits
- the delivery of emergency medical products by drones reduces the response time for incidents requiring immediate action by the emergency medical services and can save lives when the delivery time is critical for the citizen in need.
- the delivery of emergency medical products by drones enhances the access level to medical care for those living in remote and hard-to-reach areas and alleviates feelings of isolation particularly in critical times.
- the delivery of emergency medical products by drones enhances citizen’s access to (more advanced) medications not normally available in remote or hard-to-reach areas.
Website
Contact
Dr. Petri Mononen
AiRMOUR project Coordinator
VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd
+358 40 5155 808
petri.mononen [at] vtt.fi (petri[dot]mononen[at]vtt[dot]fi)
Renske Martijnse-Hartikka
AiRMOUR Project Manager
Forum Virium Helsinki
+358 40 683 7979
renske.martijnse-hartikka [at] forumvirium.fi (renske[dot]martijnse-hartikka[at]forumvirium[dot]fi)