WATCH: Drone credited with saving three-year-old child who was missing in 100+ acre cornfield in Fond du Lac County
ALTO, Wis. (WFRV) – Authorities in Fond du Lac County credit a drone with thermal capabilities with helping find a missing three-year-old child who had wandered off into a large cornfield on Sunday night.
According to a release, deputies from the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a missing three-year-old child at around 8:45 p.m. on August 25.
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The child was missing on Marshview Road in the township of Alto, and the reporting party was a parent of the child and believed the child had walked into the standing cornfield behind the house.
As deputies arrived on the scene, they learned the child was last seen at around 7:30 p.m., and all of the barns and buildings on the property had been thoroughly searched. At this time, the Fond du Lac Police Department’s Drone Team was requested.
The Alto Fire Department started systematically searching the 100+ acres of standing corn, while the Fond du Lac Police Department’s drone operator started scanning the area with a drone equipped with thermal cameras.
At around 9:30 p.m., the drone located a hot spot in the middle of the cornfield and walked a Fond du Lac County deputy into the cornfield to find the missing child.
At 9:46 p.m., deputies advised they had located the child and reported that he was uninjured. He was carried out of the cornfield and then driven back to the farm, where he was reunited with his parents. The child was found around half a mile away from home.
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“Instances like these highlight the importance of technology and collaboration amongst law enforcement in our community,” said the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office on social media. “Without the use of the thermal imaging drone, it likely would have taken deputies and other first responders hours to search the entire cornfield, and the outcome may have been different.”
The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Fond du Lac Police Department’s Drone Team and the Alto Fire Department.
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