DRONES TO BE USED IN EXTINGUISHING FIRES

[Anchor Lead]

Drones are being widely used to rescue people these days. Korean researchers are developing drones for extinguishing fires in high-rise buildings.

[Pkg]

A fire broke out at a 33-story high-rise apartment building in October last year. The flames kept raging for more than ten hours as fire hoses were too short to reach the top floors of the building and firefighting helicopters could not be deployed until next morning. Following the disaster, fire ladders were introduced nationwide, but they can only reach as high as the 23rd floor, or 70 meters above the ground. As a response, drones that can put out fires as high as the 40th floor, or 120 m above ground level, are being developed in Korea. Two drones with fire hoses take off and fly toward a blaze. It takes less than a minute to extinguish a fire on the rooftop of a seven-story building. The drones can lift 20 kg of weight. They can fly up to 50 m above the ground carrying hoses filled with water and stay up in the air for more than two hours when powered by electricity.

[Soundbite] Kim Hong(Prof., Hoseo Univ.) : "When a drone is connected to power supply 50 meters above the ground, it can continuously spray water for one or two hours."

However, researchers have yet to find out how to reduce turbulence when water is emitted from the hoses and minimize their weight using specialty materials.

[Soundbite] Yang Seung-jo(Governor of Chungcheongnam-do Prov.) : "We will do our best to utilize drones at 50 meters this year and 120 meters in the next two years."

The Chungcheong Fire Service Academy has also developed a drone system that can deliver gas masks and communication devices to people stranded on high floors when a fire breaks out. It's discussing with the Chungcheongnam-do Fire Station Headquarters when to first deploy the system.