NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 44

STORM SEASON
AN NFPA JOURNAL SPECIAL REPORT

He began fielding dozens of calls
from people requesting permission
to fly, as well as calls from response
teams on the ground looking for drone
assistance. Kessler set up a Google
Maps document and Excel spreadsheet
to track the various unmanned operations. Seated beside him were four FAA
officials who helped with coordination
between the manned and unmanned
flights. Kessler admitted afterward

"I was sitting in the
operations center
thinking, 'Why
aren't more people
calling for drone
assistance?'"

Drone operators in the Houston area, including Garret Bryl (top center), were coordinated
by Coitt Kessler (below), working in the Texas Air Operations Center in Austin. Kessler
ensured drone missions were safe to fly without interfering with manned flights.

44 | NFPA JOURNAL * N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7

that much of it was a seat-of-the-pants
effort. "It was pretty rudimentary-I
just knew air operations is communications, so the best I can do is make sure
the people operating were communicating," he said. "I would get a call passed
to me, and I'd answer their questions
and make sure there were no conflicts
with manned operations." Many of the
drone operations Kessler saw were for
recon-"just flying over and getting eyes
on different areas that are hard to reach
because of the water," he said.
One of those pilots on the ground
communicating with Kessler was firefighter Garret Bryl, who deployed to
Houston as part of the North Texas
UAS Response Team. When he arrived
just after the storm, Bryl said he was
prepared for anything and was anticipating flying emergency rescue missions
to save stranded victims. But the team
takes its command from local emergency officials, who insisted that levees
were the most immediate priority.
"We said, 'we are here to help people
and you guys know better than us what's

TOP, PUBLIC SAFET Y UAS RESPONSE TEAM OF NORTH TEXAS; BOTTOM, COITT KESSLER

Coitt Kessler
UAS Coordinator for the
Texas Division of
Emergency Management



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - November/December 2017

Contents
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 1
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - Contents
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 3
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 4
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 5
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 6
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 7
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 8
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 9
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 11
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 12
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 17
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 19
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 20
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NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 44
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