Crime & Safety

Eastside Fire Gets Drone To Assist With Search-And-Rescue

The drone, a donation, will be the department's first unmanned aircraft.

ISSAQUAH, WA - Eastside Fire will get a new tool Thursday for backcountry rescue missions. The Medic One Foundation is donating a drone to the department, which can more easily access remote areas to find stranded hikers or swimmers in distress.

The drone's inaugural flight will happen Thursday morning at the Eastside Fire station in North Bend. A donation from the family of Barbara Hamer enabled the Medic One Foundation to provide the drone.

“We are grateful to Barbara, her family and the Medic One Foundation for this generous donation,” said Eastside Fire Chief Rich Burke said in a press release. “The drone will allow us to better respond to search and rescue operations, natural disasters, structural fires and more.”

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The Medic One Foundation, founded in Seattle in the 1960s, pioneered pre-hospital care like CPR. Today, the foundation supports training for paramedics around the region.

Photo by Omer Messinger/Getty Images

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