If you're swimming in Venice in Sarasota County and start to struggle, help might just fly in from above.
The Venice Fire Department has added a floatation device attachment to their drone to reach struggling swimmers faster than rescue crews.
Fire officials said the drone can deploy the rescue tool to someone in danger minutes before firefighters can arrive on scene and swim out to them.
Assistant Chief of Fire Operations Kyle Hartley thinks adding this tool was an obvious choice.
“Since our city is surrounded by water, we have a fairly high rate of incidents that involve a swimmer or other type of water rescue emergency,” said Hartley.
The drone can be controlled remotely or at the scene of an incident.
“Once the drone is over top of the person, then they remotely can drop the inflatable on them," said Hartley.
Venice Fire Rescue recently received an attachment for their drone that allows staff to deploy an inflatable to a swimmer in distress. Assistant Fire Chief Kyle Hartley gave a demo of the life-saving device this week at the Higel Marine Park boat ramp on Tarpon Center Drive. pic.twitter.com/igwd0JLBIo
— City of Venice, FL (@CityofVeniceFL) September 26, 2025
The Skydio X10 drone the department has uses a third-party attachment from Restube to launch the flotation device.
Hartley says Skydio is working on creating their own device that would allow the rescue tool to be dropped from anywhere remotely.
Venice Fire Department is among the first in the state to add the Restube flotation device to their drone, joining Hollywood Fire Rescue & Beach Safety.
Hartley said he expects all fire departments across Florida will eventually use this rescue tool.
“Hopefully in 10, 15 years, there will be something that’s automatically deployed anytime someone calls 911,” said Hartley.
The drone can reach up to 45 miles-per-hour, able to fly in 25-miles-per-hour winds and holds up in light to moderate rain.
“Battery life is the biggest limitation,” said Hartley.
Technically, the drone can run up to 45 minutes, but averages about 30 to 40 minutes. Firefighters are able to charge or switch batteries in a quick manner on scene.
The department has had the drone for over a year. They used it during hurricanes Helene and Milton to assess flooding damage and see what areas needed extra resources.
The drone has been used for brush fires, structure fires and search-and-rescue missions as well.
