Oswego County Drone Program Enhances Response on Oneida Lake

by Contributor | September 21, 2025 9:15 am

OSWEGO COUNTY – Oswego County is set to enhance its drone capabilities to support faster response times for boaters in distress on Oneida Lake. The ‘Drone as a First Responder’ Program is part of a new partnership with Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR) Alliance.

The project includes the placement of multiple docking stations for drones with 200x zoom cameras and infrared technology along the north shore of the lake and toward the village of Phoenix. NUAIR will use radar technology to monitor airspace and make sure drone operations are conducted safely and in full compliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.

“Oneida Lake is a great, year-round resource for outdoor adventurers and we want people to enjoy themselves there,” said Oswego County Legislator Marc Greco, District 24, chairman of the Oswego County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee. “Still, their safety remains our top priority, so this opportunity to work with NUAIR just made sense. This initiative will help emergency personnel launch a response more quickly, saving precious seconds for those who may need help.”

Deployed by operators at the Oswego County E-911 Communications Center in Oswego, these public safety drones will be able to search Oneida Lake for distressed boaters, allowing emergency response crews from the shoreline to reach them more quickly.

“This will be the first project in the country to integrate radar technology with a ‘Drone as a First Responder’ Program being operated directly out of an E-911 center at the county level,” said Kevin Pooley, director of the Oswego County E-911 Communications Center.

“It’s such an important upgrade,” he added. “Oneida Lake is 79.8 square miles, with seven agencies from five counties (Oswego, Oneida, Madison and Onondaga) covering that area. Rescue calls often come in without a precise location, so multiple agencies search according to a grid pattern, taking hours to determine where the vessel is, or if the call is unfounded.

In recent months, Oswego County’s Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) team has been dispatched to the lakeshore for several drone-based search operations, saving both time and resources. Still, response times remain limited by the need for drone operators to travel to the scene.

This new partnership with NUAIR will help address that delay. The agreement grants the County access to the agency’s existing low-altitude airspace infrastructure. By providing this radar, NUAIR helps Oswego County fulfill an FAA requirement and improve efficiency.

“NUAIR is supplying radar that detects anything in the airspace we need to avoid during drone flights,” explained Oswego County UAS Coordinator John McGraw. “This will expand the reach of our drone operations while significantly reducing response time. It’ll also allow us to launch pre-positioned drones over the lake to quickly locate vessels in distress.”

Pooley added, “This technology allows us to monitor as far as Sylvan Beach without relying on local fire departments’ water resources. It’ll save time and make response efforts safer and more efficient for our first responders.”

Cathleen Palmitesso, director of the Oswego County Emergency Management Office, which oversees the drone program, said, “The County’s UAS program plays a critical role in public safety, not just for our own response teams, but also for agencies in neighboring counties.

“Our drone operators have helped locate missing persons, supported a variety of law enforcement and fire operations, and conducted damage assessments after last year’s tornadoes,” she continued. “The ‘Drone as a First Responder’ Program builds on that foundation, adding an extra layer of safety for both our residents and first responders.”

Funding for this initiative came from the Oswego County Legislature, along with several grant awards.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/oswego-county-drone-program-enhances-response-on-oneida-lake/

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