Fire paramedic service gets drone, libraries get charging stations in city hall's annual 'Dragon's Den'

TheWinnipegFireParamedicServicereceivedagreenlighttobuya drone and libraries won approval toinstall mobile-device charging stationswhen four city councillors held ameetingNorth Kildonan'sJeff Browatydescribed ascity hall's "annual version of Dragon's Den."

Once a year, the Browaty-chaired innovation committeeconsiders pitches from city councillors and departmentsfor cash from the city'scapital innovation fund.

There's $1 million in the kitty and the committee does not have to spend it all. Couns.Browaty, JohnOrlikow(River Heights-Fort Garry), CindyGilroy(Daniel McIntyre) andMartyMorantz(Charleswood-Tuxedo) considered 17pitches for the cash on Tuesday morning.

• Fire-paramedic service wants to fly its own drone
• Winnipeg Parking Authority wants to try out body cameras
• Winnipeg pools eyeball surveillance cameras

The councillors approved$32,000 to install two charging stations at the Millennium Library and one each at 19 other libraries. They alsoapproved a fire-paramedic service drone at a cost of $32,000 for the unmanned aerial vehicle as well as training.

Fire-paramedic service training officerScott Wilkinson said the drone can determine where it's safe for firefighters to go, assist with search and rescues and locate hot spots that still need to be doused.

"It would be a great asset to fly over, identify hotspots and get our crews back to the station in a much more timely manner," Wilkinson said.

The innovation committee was alsoimpressed by aproposal to purchase automatic cardiopulmonary-resuscitation machines for all city ambulances.But theybalked at approving the $438,000 cost without going through a public-tender process first or asking the provincial government to fund part of the purchase.

They wound up approving $70,000 to purchase four of the life-saving machines for short-term use.

Without the devices or othersimilar devices,it's almost impossible to conduct CPR properly in a moving vehicle, saidChris Cauthers, the fire-paramedic service's acting liaison officer to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

The devices also improve safety for fire-paramedic staff, Cauthers said.

"Right now, one provider has to stand up in the back of the ambulance to provide chest-compressions on the way to the hospital. As you can imagine, there's plenty of hazards, standing up in the back of a moving vehicle," he said.

The committee also likeda Tinder-like app that matches up heart-attack victims with nearby people who know how to perform CPR, which requires $14,000 a year in operating funding. Councillorsvoted to refer that request to the 2017 budget process becausethe innovation committee can not allocate operating funds

Proposalsrejected by the committee, at least for now, included a $333,000 surveillance system for city pools as well asa $33,000 pilot project that would have allowed Winnipeg Parking Authority enforcement officers to test-drive body cameras.

Browaty said parking-authority body cameraswould require the use of someoperating funds and posited their use would poselegal and privacy challenges for the city. He also acknowledged the optics of allowing parking-enforcement officers to wear body cameras before police officers don them.

Nonetheless, Browaty said the proposal hasmerit and should be revisitedbecause unlike police officers,parking enforcement officers typically work alone.

"People get pretty agitated and pretty worked up overparking tickets at time and (enforcement officers) do take a fair amount of abuse and even assault," he said.