Dayton Business Journal
Drones swarm over downtown Dayton fire
Tristan Navera

It was sort of a shock for me to hear the now-familiar buzz of a quadcopter as I stepped out of my car last night.

Like everyone else downtown, I was stunned at the enormous column of smoke rising from the factory district near downtown just after 5:30 p.m. yesterday evening, as the former Harris-Thomas Industries Inc. building on Harshman avenue burned. But as reporters arrived on the scene, so did a crowd, and some of them happened to be carrying the tiny, four-propped devices you’ve most commonly known as “unmanned aerial systems.”

Related: Fire and smoke envelope downtown Dayton building (photos)

Dayton Police pushed the crowd back across the street as fire crews struggled to control the blaze, with a wall collapsing into the street right next to a ladder truck and flames at times reaching 30 feet. But three drones buzzed overhead, snapping photos of the fire, hovering even inside the black plume of smoke.

Stephen Harrell isn’t involved with drones at all, actually. The Wright State University doctoral candidate and South Park resident just happened to be in the area when he and his friends heard about a fire. They brought their DJI Phantom quadcopters — which they bought online for about $450 — along with for the ride.

“You know, it’s kind of an addiction,” he says of the quadcopter, which he operates using a radio control to steady the craft as the camera takes video. “It’s a good addiction, though, you can take it places other people can’t go and get great shots flying around...

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