Drone Finds Lost Hikers And Dog In Colorado

June 20, 2017

After hiking the Devil's Head trail in Colorado for several hours, two men and their dog found themselves lost after mistakenly leaving the trail.

Luckily they were able to dial 911 with limited cell service.

drone finds missing hikers
Douglas County Search and Rescue Team

Instead of an all night search with volunteers, the Douglas County Search and Rescue Team used a drone to locate the missing hikers and were able to make contact with the hikers in just a few hours.

"50 years ago basically everything was done by a group lined up in a straight line and just plodding through a field," Incident Commander Bruce Fosdick said. "Now, scientifically we try to plot out a lot more where the subject is. We use a lot of different assets. Dogs, drones, helicopters. We try to do a lot more with a lot less people and try to get it done a lot quicker."

The new tool is also a lot more budget friendly for a team that is full of volunteers.

"If you look at an aircraft, they're pretty expensive," Fosdick added. "If I bring in a helicopter then we're talking one to two thousand dollars an hour to fly. We're all volunteers. We don't have a budget like that."

The Douglas County Search and Rescue team is funded primarily on donations. Every rescue they make is free of charge.

Watch the video below.

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