Local Man Uses Drone's Thermal Cam To Locate Missing 6-Year-Old

Feb 24, 2020 by apost team

In October 2019, Ethan Haus and his dog Remington stepped outside for playtime. But when the two failed to return in the evening, Ethan's parents alerted authorities that their son had gone missing, prompting a community-wide search complete with over 600 volunteers. 

Thankfully, Haus and Remington were found just hours after they went missing, thanks to local drone operator Steve Fines, who found them with the help of his drone's thermal cam. 

Ethan Haus got lost in his hometown of Becker, Minnesota for hours in last fall. The boy had just stepped off his school bus and was in a rush to play with his dog Remington, a spaniel. 

Ethan’s parents were used to their son and his pup going out to play a myriad of games and exploring the rural property in the area. But that day was different. When it started to get dark Ethan’s parents started to worry as temperatures began to dip into the low 40s.

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Within hours, the close-knit community of Becker came together to carry out a community-wide search, with over 600 people volunteers coming together to find the young boy. Several law agencies were also immediately on the scene to lend their expertise, including bringing out FBI K-9 units to find the two. A state patrol helicopter was even on the scene.

The volunteer searchers and law enforcement combed the area, searching in and around the town, which is densely peppered with cornfields.

The volunteers plowed through the cornfields. It had been ten hours since Ethan and Remington had been missing and as the night got colder and it became completely dark outside, his parents realized their worst nightmare had come true.

However, local man Steve Fines had something up his sleeve. Steve is a local drone operator who owns a drone business that takes aerial photos, Fines Aerial Imagine. Although he’d never used a drone in a missing person case, he realized the drone could spot heat, and therefore could help find Ethan. The authorities permitted Steve to use his drone, desperate to find Ethan at that point.

Sure enough, the drone almost immediately captured a “bright spot” shaped like a dog in a cornfield, pinpointing exactly where Ethan and Remington were. Both the boy and his trusty pup got home safe and sound!

How great is modern technology that he found these two in minutes with a drone after a ten-hour search couldn’t turn them up? What do you think about continuing to use drones in cases like this? Pass this story along to anyone who is interested in drones or doubts the power of their technology!