Acting division chief of operations with the Fremont (California) Fire Department, Jeff Kleven, told VOA News that every firetruck would carry a drone. The department already operates 14 drones, uses the aerial vehicles to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance of an incident scene.
The fire department is supplied with drones from Shenzhen-based SZ DJI Technology Co.
Several years ago, the US Army halted the use of all DJI products from the modern battlefield.
The DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently urged US firms to “be cautious” of Chinese-built drones “as they may contain components that can compromise your data and share your information on a server accessed beyond the company itself.”
Kleven told VOA that his department wouldn’t be transferring sensitive material over the internet through DJI products, which means they’re on a localized system where it’s impossible to hack.
“We are well aware of the accusations that are being made. It’s not something new. There are ways we localize our data so it doesn’t go out,” Kleven said. “There are ways we don’t have to be connected to the internet. We don’t have to transfer things over the internet. We can isolate our data within our system. We are confident with that.”
Romeo Durscher, head of public safety integration at DJI, dismissed the cyber theft allegations and said more than1,000 US fire, police, and other first responders have put their trust into DJI drones.
As DJI becomes one of the most popular drone brands for first responders, it has been caught in the middle of the trade war between Beijing and Washington.
“We certainly live in a very different and challenging time right now with what is happening politically worldwide,” Durscher said. “We’re putting mitigative solutions in place so the data security risk is managed and manageable.”
Despite DHS’ warning about Chinese drones and the risk the Trump administration could target DJI with sanctions, it seems that America’s first responders are very confident that Chinese drones save American lives.
