Lauderdale County is looking to grow its technological capabilities in search and rescue, storm damage surveillance and more by training its employees to fly drones.

In a work session Thursday, Emergency Management Director Odie Barrett said adding drones would expand the county’s capabilities while keeping emergency responders safe.

“With everything switching over to the use of drones, it’s not taking the place of people, but it is making our jobs a lot more safer,” he said. “We’re not having to get out into some of these hard to reach areas. We can get first eyes out there with drones.”

If approved by the board of supervisors, Barrett said, 14 county employees from five departments would be trained to use the drones and test for a drone operator’s license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

“My proposal to the board is $19,988, and that is bringing in Unmanned Systems Group out of Jackson,” he said. “They do all the training for MEMA and a lot of the counties throughout the state.”

Having trained, licensed drone pilots would help the county with liability issues, Barrett said. It also opens the door for more grant funding which could be used to purchase the drones.

“They’re not going to just spend that much money unless you have someone who’s licensed and knows how to operate these things,” he said.

Barrett said he would like to purchase two Matrice 300 drones, which offer thermal imaging and the ability to generate GPS coordinates of a location to send to first responders. The drones, he said, could fly for about 45 minutes at a time and offer a range of about five miles.

Road Manager Rush Mayatt currently uses drones to survey projects, Barrett said, but the Matrice 300 drones offer a much wider array of capabilities.

Once pilots are trained and the drones purchased, he said they could be put to use helping deputies identify the number of people in a home, surveying tornado damage for emergency declarations or taking aerial photos of a bridge project.

The total cost for the training and drones, Barrett said, was about $100,000. Of that, he said he hoped to receive about $80,000 in grants to purchase the two drones. The additional $20,000 would cover the training costs for county employees.

County Administrator Chris Lafferty said the next available training slots were in September and several grant opportunities would be opening later in the year. The board of supervisors, he said, would need to decide whether to quickly move forward this year or plan to revisit the issue in fiscal year 2023.