News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
For the first time StormPoint was called for a missing person search in the Upper Cumberland over the weekend.
StormPoint sent Sunday to help the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department in Monterey to find Arnold “Chigger” Vaughn. StormPoint Executive Director Russell Bradshaw said StormPoint has nine volunteers on deck and over $120,000 in drone equipment to use.
“We provide search and rescue services, primarily with unmanned aircraft systems like specialized drones that we can fly and help find missing persons and help after disasters,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said drones can be better than helicopters because multiple drones can be deployed in one area at different altitudes without being a safety issue. He said operating drones is also much cheaper.
“Many of my drones can fly as little as 100 feet over trees, and many times we can fly in the tree line and into ditches and smaller areas to look for people and things that need to be found a little better,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said he started StormPoint after seeing a dire need for aerial technology for after storm care and rescue missions. He said the non profit organization has been operating for over four years.
Most of StormPoint’s drones are donated from a Nashville based drone company, Bradshaw said.
“That includes some very specialized thermal cameras,” Bradshaw said. “We can see heat signatures at night so if a kid were to go missing at midnight and wander away from their home we can fly several miles from the point that we take off and we can see their heat signatures in the woods and send first responders directly to their location, to their GPS coordinance.”
The majority of funding for the organization comes from private business donations. Bradshaw said after natural disasters strike, he doesn’t want to take private donations from the local economy.
Vaughn is still missing. If anyone has any information on his whereabouts call 911 or the Sheriff’s Department. He was last seen Monday near Hanging Limb Road or Anderson Road in Monterey.
StormPoint is based in Rutherford County.
