It's almost time to start the cane harvest in parts of northern NSW, but there's a problem.
The devastating floods that hit the area in March left debris among the dense cane, some of it is large and almost impossible to see until you are upon it.
That is where specially trained firefighters from Albury and Wagga Wagga come in.
Fire and Rescue NSW Deputy Captain from Albury North Fire Station Nigel Semmens, was one of two sent north this week to fly drones over cane fields to find the dangerous debris.
"We've come across things such as fridges, washing machines, water tanks," he said.
He uses a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise drone for reconnaissance, finding the debris and marking the location.
But the cane is too thick for them to just go in and take the debris out. So then, a second drone, a DJI Mavic 300, is sent in with a high-resolution camera to map the field.
That detailed map is sent down to a team in Sydney, which turns it into a file that is fed into the cane harvesting machines, so drivers know areas to avoid as they work.
"Once you walk five metres inside a cane field, you've got no idea where you are, you can't see," Deputy Captain Semmens said.
"They physically can't go in and retrieve any of this debris.
"It's just got to be left there until after the harvest. So the more they can identify, the safer it's going to be for everybody."
Fire and Rescue NSW has been working with the local canegrowers' association on the project.
Deputy Captain Semmens has been up in northern NSW for a week to offer relief to local crews, and another team will go up next week.
"This will be an ongoing project for Fire and Rescue NSW for the next three months. They'll pretty much be moving ahead of the cane harvest," he said.
Drones can help in many ways
Fire and Rescue zone commander Superintendent Stewart Alexander said they were glad to be able to offer help to the areas that had been hit so hard.
"We're very keen to assist the local community and local businesses and farmers to get back up and running," he said.
He said the specialised drone training was a very new capability that had only very recently taken place in Albury, Wagga Wagga and Deniliquin.
But the drones have already proved very useful, especially as they have an infrared vision for flying at night.
"We've used them a number of times for missing persons' searches to assist NSW police, and also for some fire investigation work; it's a really very useful piece of equipment," Superintendent Alexander said.
