The Grant County Sheriff’s Office, and Hartline and Almira fire department volunteers, rescued a Hartline resident around 4 a.m. Monday using a drone.

He had wandered away from his home on the 13000 block of Road 45 Northeast around 1:30 a.m. Monday, but was returned to his family without injuries.

Thomas Behne, 71, suffers from dementia, said Grant County Chief Deputy Ken Jones. He had been wandering for two and a half hours in mid-30 degree temperatures while volunteers combed the area.

“This isn’t the first time that we’ve had folks walk away from their homes, and they get confused,” Jones said. “But when that happens, man, it’s really kind of a guessing game. I don’t think there’s any intentional negligence on the family.”

The sheriff’s office drone picked up Behne’s heat signature eight minutes after being deployed.

The rescue would have been drastically harder just five years ago, and could have had much worse results, Jones said.

The department launched the Unmanned Aircraft Systems program in 2016. Now, they have seven pilots and fly over almost every operation whether it’s tactical or search and rescue, Jones said.

“Encompassing the efforts from the Fire District 6 guys out of Hartline and Almira, as well as our folks that went up there, and utilizing the equipment that we’ve been so fortunate to have, this is a definite win, for sure of it,” he said. “This could have turned out extremely tragic.”