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Waterloo Fire seeks permission to pursue grants to stand up a drone rescue team
Summary
Lieutenant Mike Zimmerly asked council permission to seek grant funding to form a departmental drone rescue team, describing faster search-and-rescue capability, thermal imaging benefits and FAA Part 107 and organizational COA requirements; staff said grants are mostly 100% and earliest realistic deployment would likely be 2027.
Lieutenant Mike Zimmerly of Waterloo Fire Rescue asked the council at the April 6 work session for permission to pursue grants and begin forming a drone rescue team, stressing that his request was for authority to apply for funding rather than for immediate city purchases.
Zimmerly said drones equipped with thermal imagers and two-way communications can shorten searches from hours to minutes and increase success rates, citing local examples and peer departments that operate dedicated teams. He explained that individual pilots must hold FAA Part 107 certification and that the department would ultimately pursue an organizational certificate of authorization (COA) to gain operational leeway (night flights, beyond-line-of-sight in emergencies). He said he and Lieutenant Fuller currently hold Part 107 licenses.
The proposal would begin by seeking 100% grant funding and establishing multiple certified operators on each shift so the department can deploy quickly without relying on outside agencies. Zimmerly described a likely single-department aircraft retained in a station, with certified personnel rotated across shifts and other team members on call; he outlined possible payloads and a target platform that could carry additional cameras, two-way radios and a small hook for delivering communications devices.
Council questions focused on deployment models, payload capability, training and maintenance costs, and timeline. Zimmerly said most relevant grant programs reopen in late fall/early winter and estimated realistic fielding in 2027. He provided maintenance and training cost ranges (maintenance could run from a few hundred to several thousand dollars annually depending on aircraft size and usage; Part 107 recertification is an online course every two years). He also noted existing police and sheriff drone teams but said relying on them could delay response times.
Council did not approve funding at the session; they asked staff to return with grant requests and any items that would require council approval. Zimmerly and staff said they will pursue grants that do not require city match and will return to council before accepting awards with matching obligations.
