Firefighters in B.C. are testing out a small camera-equipped drone as a way to save time during rescues.

Langford B.C. firefighters used a borrowed drone on the weekend while rescuing a hiker who fell about six metres down the side of a mountain, suffering serious injuries including a broken leg.

The drone was able to fly up close to the patient and assess the hazards facing rescuers, despite misty weather that made flying a full-sized rescue helicopter difficult.

Langford Fire Chief Bob Beckett said the drone wasn’t essential to this particular rescue, but it showed the potential to speed up the process.

Beckett said he believes the drone could also be used to fight forest fires.

“It convinced me that this is a tool that the fire service will probably rapidly invest in,” Beckett said.

On the other side of the country, in Dieppe, N.B., the local fire department has already purchased a drone, which is being used as part of a pilot project to see whether it is useful during fires.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/eye-in-the-sky-crews-test-drone-during-mountain-rescue-1.2509354