While travelling to Holyhead recently to do some filming, we happened upon a large amount of blue flashing lights on the Holyhead Breakwater. This naturally piqued our interest enough to go and have a look. It was quite cold, and a little windy, and we were not planning for a drone flight at that time, or for even being on the breakwater, but we decided to go and have a look to see what was happening anyway. It looked unusual from across the harbour.
When we got near the breakwater and parked up, we could see multiple fire engines, pumps, vans and cars; loads of lights flashing, tens of metres of hose, and multiple firefighters. We decided to get a little closer to see what was happening merely because it was so out of the ordinary.
We approached the first set of firefighters we came across as we rolled down onto Soldier’s Point, and asked first of all if there was an emergency situation happening. We were told that it wasn’t an emergency, it was just a practice session, and that they were rehearsing high volume pumping (HVP), using two fire trucks and two deployable high volume pumps.
Once we knew it wasn’t a live operation, we asked out of courtesy if they minded us flying. They said it would be fine, told the rest of their crew, and we launched the drone. Had it been an emergency, we would not have been able to fly without permission.
We initially filmed quite a lot from the top half of Soldier’s Point, but as we got closer, because of the way the trucks operate (they need quite a lot of manoeuvring space), we were asked to move further down so we would be safer and the trucks could move freely. We happily obliged. On the way past, we again asked them if they minded us filming, and they again said ‘it’s fine, we just needed to be where you are’ (paraphrasing). We kept asking because it felt so weird filming an event like this.
Once moved, we finished our shots with the first crew, and then we moved over to film the other set of firefighters on the bottom level of Soldier’s Point. Here we were able to move a little easier as there’s a good deal of concrete. Gravel makes manual wheelchair life awkward.
We were approached by another couple of firefighters who asked us about flying (had we asked permission etc), and again requested we move when they needed us to, which we did happily another couple of times. Cerys was extremely excited to be among the crews, as she has for a while now flirted with the idea of applying to the fire service.
Unfortunately by the time we’d arrived, they were just packing up, so we missed any actual pumping. Luckily though, they had so much equipment out, we managed to get a whole load of amazing footage of them manoeuvring around, and working in teams to pack it all up . It was fascinating, and we’re grateful for the experience.
Caveat:
There’s been quite a bit of debate when I’ve posted the below video in drone groups recently, about whether I was able to fly or not, so it’s worth noting that as the law stands, you cannot interfere with an emergency operation by flying a drone, unless you have explicit permission from the teams on the ground (or a controller). This sometimes happens when the police might need to quickly find someone vulnerable, or firefighters/rescue teams need to see an angle of a fire, and they don’t have another drone operator on site. Permission is always needed to do this.
Because we were not at a live incident (we obviously confirmed this first), we were actually free to fly, having already sought permission to fly on the breakwater from the port manager. We did not need to ask permission to fly over the crews, but we did so out of courtesy and to make sure we didn’t distract anyone.
Safety should always be paramount when flying, especially near people.
You can check out my video below.
Peace
Emma