Northern Colorado city launches drone response program for police, fire and utilities

The largest city in Northern Colorado, Fort Collins, has successfully launched one of the first-ever "drone as a city resource" programs in the United States. Fort Collins now has drones flying the city nearly every day as a resource to the police, fire and utilities departments.

At the start of 2026, the city began operating three drones, all of which are stationed at Poudre Fire Authority stations on the city's northern and southern edges.

Fort Collins Police Services Sgt. Ryan Barash, who oversees the police drone and K9 programs, said this is the first city-wide drone program created by the drone company Skydio, and possibly one of the first ever by any company in the United States.

Drones as first responders are not new and have been used by departments for years. However, Barash sought to help create a program that more than one agency within a city could use to their benefit.

After years of planning and discussing with the city council, Fort Collins adopted the program. By giving multiple agencies access to the same drones, all participating entities can be under one program and avoid investing in dozens of drones with different software that wouldn't communicate with each other.

"We are going to have one drone platform that works for the entire city," Barash said.

The drones are stored in charging stations that look a lot like a futuristic barbecue grill. Like a grill, when activated by an operator, the drone stations open a lid. Then the drones detach from their charging mechanism and take off. The drones then fly themselves to the location of a call, and are supervised by a drone operator.

So far, Barash has helped train more than 200 people, including all 911 dispatch operators in Fort Collins, on how to operate them safely.

"We are able to fly 90% of the city within 90 seconds to a couple of minutes," Barash said.

The flight times of the drones, which are equipped with parachutes for the safety of those below in the event of a malfunction, are estimated at around 35 minutes. However, that includes flight time to the location and back to the charging station. The drones are programmed not to fly over 200 feet and to return to their charging station on their own when the battery level begins to get low.

"We hope to use it to clear calls to even prevent any responding unit going," said Gene Maccarini, battalion chief for Poudre Fire Authority.

Maccarini said the drones have already proven helpful in getting eyes on a scene before the firefighters even leave the station. Police officers and firefighters can see the live video coming from the drones on their phones or laptops as they respond.

"We've had structure fires where the drone was able to get on scene, and the responding units going to the call were able to have live footage of what was going on and what they are responding to and what they are faced with," Maccarini said.

The drones have also helped first responders save money, as Maccarini said some drones have been able to identify a legally prescribed burn as the cause of a 911 smoke call, allowing firefighters to avoid using fuel and time and to focus on other emergencies.

"It absolutely saves money, time and resources. It is very expensive to roll our apparatus down the road, and it also keeps them available for more critical emergencies," Maccarini said.

Barash said the city also recently saved time for first responders amid a report of a water main break. People called 911 to report gushing water, which Barash said would normally require at least one fire truck and one police officer to respond and investigate. Instead, the drone was able to reach the scene quickly and determine it was a problem for the utilities department, freeing first responders from ever having to show up.

"We are seeing a 30% incident closure rate, meaning they are going out to the incidents. They are seeing the person is no longer there, or there is no need for a police officer to go to that, and we are able to close the call," Barash said. "Which, once again, is giving back to our community, saving money, helping allocate the appropriate resources instead of sending a police or fire apparatus to that."

The drone software has FAA rules programmed into it, forcing the city's drones to adhere to laws and regulations that a significant majority of recreational drone operators can choose to disobey.

Because the drones are programmed to adhere to FAA regulations, drone operators are not required to hold a Part 107 drone pilot's license. And, the city has obtained a certification known as "Part 91 Beyond Visual Line of Sight." That allows a pilot to fly the drones beyond their line of sight. Most other certified drone pilots can legally fly a drone only as far as their eyes can maintain visual contact.

The City of Fort Collins says its drones are programmed to document their flight paths during every single flight, and the video from each flight is also recorded and retained. The flight paths and records from the drones are able to be requested for review by the public, in an effort to follow public records laws and offer transparency to those worried about "big brother" type operations.

Barash said he hopes to add to the city's drone program one day, which currently has only three drones in operation.