In February, the City of Fort Collins launched a new city drone community resource (DCR), an innovative, multi-agency initiative with Fort Collins Police Services, Poudre Fire Authority, and Fort Collins Utilities to position drones as a shared community resource for emergency response.
Fort Collins Emergency Services Drone Program
The DCR uses Skydio X10 drones with a total of three dedicated drones. These drones provide rapid situational awareness ahead of responders on the ground. The program emphasizes using drones for both low-priority 911 calls to avoid unnecessary resource dispatches and high-priority incidents requiring enhanced scene intelligence.
“The DCR program gives the city a bird’s-eye view to quickly check out what’s happening at a scene, while keeping our officers and residents much safer,” says FCPS Chief of Police, Jeff Swoboda. “We can make smarter choices right away, respond more effectively, and send exactly the right help to the right place.”
“The drone program, developed in partnership with Fort Collins police, fire, and utilities, does exactly that. By giving firefighters real-time situational awareness before they arrive on scene, we can better determine what resources are truly needed and reduce the number of engines responding to emergencies on our roads. Our call volume has grown steadily for years, surpassing 25,000 in 2024. That kind of demand requires us to work more efficiently.” said PFA Fire Chief Derek Bergsten.
“Utilities is proud to partner with police and fire services as a city resource (DCR) program,” said Light and Power Director Travis Walker. “In addition to the benefits drones bring to the public safety sector, utilities can utilize drones to monitor sites and equipment, do routine patrols of facilities, and tell our story by documenting work, outages and more.”
The city maintains strict policies on all DCR drone operations to protect constitutional rights, privacy and FAA compliance unless justified under state and federal law. All drones feature advanced safety systems, including obstacle avoidance, visual sensors, and parachute deployment for emergency descents.