Anyone who regularly visits a fishing pond is familiar with the small boats that sail around remotely controlled to get bait into the water. Firefighter Dirk Jan Mollema also likes carp fishing and saw the potential of that boat for his work on and around the water.
“There was already a group at the Emmen fire brigade working on innovation in the field of sonar. There are many developments in this area, especially in sport fishing. That is a hobby of mine, so I already knew what was possible there. We worked that out.”
The result is a bright red painted bait boat, but with strong sonar on board. The safety region uses the boat to map the water and the bottom when there is a report of a car or a person in the water. “That makes you proud,” Mollema agrees. “Mostly because it works.”
The boat saves the diving team of the Emmen fire brigade a lot of time and effort. Before they arrive anywhere, the boat may have already mapped part of the water. In this way, the possible search areas are considerably reduced and the divers are in the water for a much shorter time.
“The underwater time of the victims is quite limited as a result,” says Martijn Louissen, water accident response coordinator at the safety region. “So someone is very likely to surface faster and therefore has a better chance of survival.”
The plan is to equip two teams in Drenthe with these boats. This way, a search can be started quickly anywhere in Drenthe. Something that is also important now that the voluntary diving group in Assen has been disbanded. The sonar team may have already conducted a thorough search before the diving teams from Emmen, Zwolle or Groningen arrive.
Jeroen Antoons is project leader ‘extended reality’ and digital development. According to him, these types of tools are becoming increasingly common in emergency services. He also points to a miniature car with a 360-degree camera that is for sale in stores. In addition, the fire brigade has been using flying drones for some time to help firefighting teams with an overview.
According to Antoons, the safety region tries to encourage employees to come up with these kinds of ideas. “That is important, because the intrinsic motivation comes from below. Because you then have the support from that group. It is for them, so I am happy that they are coming up with initiatives.”