57 Keeping Communities Safe cut off strategic transportation routes to Western Australia and the Northern Territory, as well as residents of Coober Pedy and surrounding townships, who were unable to get out or have essentials brought in. Within a few hours of the storm letting up, Jayme Moreland, the agency’s chief remote pilot at the time, had arrived in the rural outback and sent his drone airborne to assess the damage, holding his smart phone aloft to capture the slightest signal to share the images as soon as possible. Updates would inform maps, to convey road conditions and closures. What he captured were cinematic views of the submerged railway and road from eye level and far above, to share why this corridor was now impassable. Among the video footage was a road train, typically longer and heavier than a semi-truck, towing three containers sitting stranded on the side of the highway. What had been the key thoroughfare for commerce in the days before now resembled a muddy lake. The initial images, and those taken in the days and weeks after, helped officials and the public fully understand and assess the damage that would need to be fixed. The footage was viewed more than 750,000 times and served as a warning to motorists while the areas remained hazardous. Later, when the railway and road were repaired and reopened, follow-up footage showed the efforts that went into bringing about the welcome relief of restored mobility. Sharing Drone Services Across Australian Agencies SASES—with about 100 staff and 1,500 volunteers—has become a reliable resource for its public safety peers as it has expanded its drone use. Moreland, who left SASES in October 2022 to join the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission, started as a volunteer for SASES in 2012 and joined full time in 2015 to train volunteers. He realized in the intervening years that remotely piloted aircraft could serve the agency well. “If a kid can walk into a local department store, buy a drone, and be off and flying, then why aren’t the emergency services using them?” he thought at the time. In his spare time, he investigated building, buying, flying, and testing a whole range of aircraft, eventually becoming a licensed drone pilot and integrating what he learned into his role at SASES. Since then, SASES has used drones to better assess a series of back-to-back storms affecting a residential suburb, no longer needing to put crews in harnesses and safety systems atop roofs to take photos of damage. The agency has also supported fire agencies by using thermal cameras attached to remotely piloted aircraft to identify lingering hot spots inside trees that could flare up. Police agencies have solicited help, too, in searching for stolen vehicles in forests or to spot illegal cannabis crops. The southeast Australia floods wiped out the arterial highway from north to south and the rail tracks from east to west.
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