Drone Technology Strengthens Emergency Response for Muscogee Nation

Key Points

• The Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma has enhanced its emergency response capabilities with the purchase of a new mobile, drone command center.
• The purchase was made possible through a $95,000 community investment grant facilitated by Marathon Petroleum’s midstream segment, MPLX.
• The command center allows for operating as many as five drones simultaneously to reinforce search and rescue, disaster response and law enforcement operations.

The recent recovery of a missing five-year-old boy is an example of how the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma is benefiting from expanding the technology available to its emergency responders. A new mobile, drone command center has strengthened their capabilities to coordinate search and rescue, disaster response and law enforcement operations.

“The command center is a trailer for operating up to five drones concurrently with workstation screens that allow real-time data transmission from each drone, providing location and operational data,” Muscogee Nation Emergency Management Director Bobby Howard said. “This provides quicker response times, the ability to cover large areas, and has bridged communication gaps during events.”

The Muscogee Nation’s Office of Emergency Management purchased the command center to help operate existing drone fleets through a $95,000 community investment grant facilitated by Marathon Petroleum’s midstream segment, MPLX. The funding came after tornadoes this past spring caused loss of life on the Muscogee Nation, focusing attention on enhancing response capacity.

"It’s very gratifying to provide technology through this new grant that could help make all the difference in critical moments.”

“The Nation was previously limited to operating off the controllers for each of our drones, meaning there was only a four to eight-inch screen to see the video feeds,” said Howard. “Now, the drones of the Office of Emergency Management and our Lighthorse Police Department are all integrated into the command center.”

MPLX’s Gathering and Processing (G&P) component operates extensive natural gas gathering and compression networks within the boundaries of the Muscogee Nation. The grant for the drone command center adds to G&P’s ongoing community investment in the area that has involved workforce development initiatives.

“Given the location of our assets, we consider ourselves corporate neighbors and partners with the Muscogee Nation,” said G&P Operations Senior Manager Ian Leybas. “It’s very gratifying to provide technology through this new grant that could help make all the difference in critical moments.”