The Seattle Fire Department wants to bring a small fleet of drones into the mix, proposing up to three units under a program dubbed Emergency Response Aerial Technology, or ERAT. Department leaders say the airborne helpers would give crews a quick overhead view during a limited set of high-risk fire, medical and rescue calls, boosting responder safety and the odds of a successful outcome. The plan is now moving into public review as the department asks residents what they think.
How ERAT Would Be Used
Seattle Fire says ERAT would roll out only for a narrow set of incidents where an aerial view could change the game, such as structure and brush fires, water rescues, mass-casualty and technical rescues, and hazardous-materials or energy-related incidents. The department also proposes using the drones in less common but higher-risk situations including marine fires, railway emergencies and post-earthquake disaster work. ERAT would have been used about 2,589 times in 2025, out of roughly 197,926 calls and 108,763 dispatched incidents that year, according to the Seattle Fire Department.
Privacy And Footage Limits
According to the department, ERAT is designed to provide only a live video feed to designated Seattle Fire personnel. The draft plan states that the feed would not be recorded and would not be shared with other city agencies or with the public. The idea is to draw a bright line between using drones for situational awareness and using them for broad surveillance, even as privacy advocates in other cities have pushed for strict limits on similar tools. Officials are stressing limited access and no public livestream, as reported by KOMO News.
Public Review And Next Steps
Because Seattle classifies drones as surveillance technology, the ERAT proposal must run through the city’s Surveillance Technology Ordinance process. The department has submitted a draft Surveillance Impact Report and opened a public comment period. Four informational sessions are on the calendar: the first at El Centro de la Raza on Wednesday, July 22, an online briefing on Friday, July 24, a meeting at North Central College on Thursday, July 30, and a final online session on Saturday, Aug. 8. Comments received by Aug. 13 will be folded into the report, according to the Seattle Fire Department.
Context: Drones In Public Safety
Municipal use of drones in emergency response is on the rise around the country, and Seattle is home turf for some of the companies building the gear. Local maker Brinc recently rolled out a long-range 911 response drone as it ramps up manufacturing in the region, and other departments have already adopted BRINC systems as “first eyes” on a scene. For examples of how that looks in practice, see coverage from GeekWire and reporting on Schenectady’s program in the Times Union.
What The Law Requires
Seattle’s surveillance ordinance, SMC Chapter 14.18, requires city departments to publish a Surveillance Impact Report, invite community review and secure City Council approval before putting new surveillance technologies into use. The rules are meant to add transparency and public input when a city agency wants to adopt tools that collect imagery or other surveillance data, according to Seattle Information Technology.
For now, ERAT will keep moving through public comment and the city’s review steps in the coming weeks. If the council and mayor sign off, the department says it will develop detailed training and policies before the drones go into regular emergency response. Residents who want to weigh in can find the draft report and meeting information on the city’s surveillance page and through Seattle Fire’s public notices.
