By WBAY news staff and Brittany Schmidt

Published: Aug. 30, 2024 at 8:45 AM PDT|Updated: 19 hours ago

ALTO, Wis. (WBAY) - A drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera helped reunite a 3-year-old with his family in Fond du Lac County.

A toddler found himself a half-mile away from home in the middle of a cornfield at night after chasing a cat in rural Fond du Lac earlier this week.

Parents called for help, and it was all hands on deck from first responders who knew exactly what to do next to find the 3-year-old boy.

After getting to the scene, Fond du Lac County deputies decided a drone was needed to try and find the boy in a 100-plus acre cornfield.

Fond du Lac police brought in their thermal capable drone and found the little boy’s heat signature. Video shows a deputy and two firefighters following the drone above until they picked up the little boy.

Article continues below the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office video

Body cam video shows just how tall the corn was, about 6 feet, and how dark it was that Sunday night. It took training, teamwork, and technology to find this literal needle in a haystack.

“We keep upgrading and getting better versions of them. The ones that we’re working with right now are obviously very good at what they do, and it’s nice that they make a product that law enforcement can use. It has capabilities that we otherwise, historically would have needed a helicopter to accomplish the same thing, and it’s portable and relatively inexpensive,” said Scott Krause, assistant police chief with the Fond du Lac Police Department.

DEBRIEF: Drones find lost 3-year-old boy in large Fond du Lac County cornfield

“It was dark so our drones have lights on them so deputies can see them. We train for these circumstances, what we direct our ground deputies to do is ‘Hey, we know you can’t see the heat sensor but you can see the drone, but walk until you are directly under the drone and you will find what you are looking for’,” said Lt. Alex Volm with the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office.

The child wasn’t hurt. Rescuers carried him out of the cornfield and drove him back home to his parents.

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