Drones have become CFA's latest eyes in the sky, already proving their effectiveness during the 2025-26 fire season.
CFA embarked on a Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) drone trial a year ago to boost our firefighting intelligence from above.
The 12-month pilot program, hosted at Rowville and Edithvale brigades including volunteer pilots from Melbourne's outer east and southeast was used for a range of emergency situations including identifying hot spots, hazmats, rope rescue and urban search and rescue, aerial thermal imaging, impact assessment, fire investigation, searches, amongst other live video and training benefits.
The success of the trial was proven during the January 2026 fire season on various firegrounds across the state allowing incident controllers and fireground command personnel to make timely and informed decisions.
Incredible vision was captured during a bushfire at Rhyll at Phillip Island on 22 January, on the edge of the Koala Conservation Reserve, where firefighters were seen standing over the top of a hot spot. The RPAS crew informed the firefighters on the ground and they were able to start raking and watering down the hotspot, showing smoke billowing out of the ground.
The Incident Controller Damien O'Connor stated through the ability to have the holistic view, they were able to find several hot spots outside of the main fire.
"This prevented the fire restarting in unburnt land and gave us the confidence to leave the fireground knowing our suppression techniques were successful," Damien said.
"These hot spots were identified at night, and we were able to guide crews to their location through the use of the drone spotlight as well as by radio communications watching the image on the screen.
"I have no doubt the use of the RPAS program at this incident not only saved the local brigades many hours and potential outbreaks, it also ensured the conservation of the Koala program and its continual success to limit the spread of the fire."
Rowville Fire Brigade Captain and RPAS pilot Cien Pereira works as an air traffic controller and said she was keen for CFA to try a new specialty which happened to align with the work she does.
"Drones provide incredible intelligence and there are long term benefits of where this program can go," Cien said.
"There are incident controllers out there that don't realise this is an option for them, so we're doing demonstrations across the state to try and get the word out.
"RPAS provides more accurate, more up to date information and intelligence for better decision making, so this makes everything safer for both the community and our firefighters."
CFA Commander and Manager of Aviation John Katakouzinos AFSM said the 12-month pilot program has been very successful and hopes to roll it out further in the future.
"We're got 21 highly trained drone pilots at the moment who have been responding to a range of incidents across the state, particularly over summer," John said.
"The varying capabilities such as still images, 4K video, HD video, optical zoom and thermal imaging provide invaluable insights to our incident controllers and firefighters.
"The RPAS program is a remarkable asset to CFA now and into the future."
