Drone thermal images show the rescue of a 3-year-old boy who became lost and wandered alone at night into a 100-acre cornfield in Alto, Wisconsin.
Fond du Lac County sheriff's deputies received a call for help from the boy's parents around 8:45 p.m. on August 25, reporting that their son had wandered into a large, 6-foot-high cornfield behind their home.
In the darkness, officers brought a thermal imaging drone to the scene to assist in the search effort.
The video begins with a drone surveying a cornfield with 6-foot-tall corn stalks.
In thermal images, the rows of corn appear as textured black and white images.
Around 9:30pm, a bright white shape appears to move through the corn, breaking up the monotonous pattern that has formed within the frame.
It's a toddler!
By noting these heat signatures, police were able to focus rescue efforts on specific parts of the cornfield.
Footage continues to show Fond du Lac County sheriff's deputies and personnel from the Alto Fire Department on the scene.
Rescue workers can also be seen appearing in the footage as white shapes moving through the cornfield towards the child.
After about 15 minutes, they gathered around the toddler.
The boy was then removed from the cornfield and taken back in a car to be reunited with his parents.
“Cases like this highlight the importance of technology and collaboration between law enforcement agencies in our community,” the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office said.
“Without the use of a thermal imaging drone, it would likely have taken the sheriff and other emergency personnel hours to search the entire cornfield and the outcome may have been different,” he added.
The sheriff's office recorded that the boy was found about a half-mile away from the home.
