GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's small and compact, but the job for this piece of technology is much bigger than it seems.
There are many tools that Greensboro Fire uses to fight fires, from trucks to hoses, and most recently drones.
Drones are allowing the Greensboro Fire Department to reach new heights when it comes to safety.
When fire crews arrive on the scene and are on the ground, they can only see so much, but these drones give them a whole new perspective.
"We can switch between regular images and thermal," said Captain Jason Chamberlain with Greensboro Fire Department.
Captain Jason Chamberlain has worked with the Greensboro Fire Department for 24 years.
He said the drone team started 3 years ago and it's a piece of tech propelling crews into the future.
"To see the change over the years since I started till now, the technology has been amazing," Chamberlain said. "This is relatively new to the fire service but there's a whole gambit of benefits."
Those benefits include finding a missing person, someone trapped in a hose fire, or even keeping crews safer on scenes.
For example, a recent fire in Greensboro at a trucking company could've been deadly for firefighters.
"Those bow string roofs will collapse more quickly than a normal regular roof and the drone footage did show us that some of those were compromised," said Greensboro Deputy Fire Chief Dwayne Church in January, after that large fire.
Church mentioned that the roof was warped, meaning it could cave in at any time.
"We advised the firefighters to stay away from the building because of the collapsed roof," said Chamberlain.
This allowed crews to avoid certain areas while doing a search to ensure no one was inside.
The fire department has a few of these drones and it's full throttle, as they continue adding to the team and advancing the technology.
"It's really neat to see how this will help the future of firefighting," said Chamberlain.