C-DRONE GUIDE · 4 AUGUST 2026
Surveying a French municipality's fire-fighting water points (DECI) by drone: inventory, access, price
Fire hydrants, flexible tanks, open reserves, river suction points: external fire-fighting water supply (DECI) in France rests on a mesh of water points the mayor must guarantee under a dedicated municipal power — a municipal order lists them, a plan schedules them, and the departmental regulation (RDDECI) sets local requirements. On the ground, reality ages fast: a tank swallowed by brambles, a rutted access track, a half-empty reserve, a suction area impassable for a 26-tonne fire engine. Drones give municipalities — especially rural and forest ones — a fast way to photograph the real state of their network. Here is what a drone checks, what it does not replace, and the prices.
Published on 4 August 2026, reviewed on 26 August 2026 — regulations in force as of August 2026.
DECI, a municipal duty that has to be checked
Since the 2015 reform (decree of 27 February 2015 and the national framework), DECI is a dedicated power of the mayor: it falls to them to guarantee fire-fighting water points (PEI) in sufficient number, capacity and condition, under their département's RDDECI rules. That means a municipal order listing the points, periodic technical checks (hydrant flow and pressure, performed at ground level by the competent service) and condition and access verifications — operational reconnaissance being carried out with the fire service (SDIS). In practice, many small municipalities have neither an up-to-date inventory nor the means to make regular rounds of points scattered across hamlets and forest.
That is exactly the drone's niche: in half a day it photographically visits dozens of scattered points, without tying up an employee and a vehicle on sometimes impassable tracks — and delivers dated, geolocated images that can be appended directly to the municipal order or the DECI plan.
What the drone checks — and what it does not replace
For each water point, the flight produces a photo record:
- Reserves and flexible tanks: apparent condition of the envelope and fencing, visible level, vegetation encroachment, signage.
- Natural suction points (pond, river, impoundment): seasonal water level, apparent silting, condition of the suction area and its platform.
- Access: track condition along its whole length, clearance (low branches spotted from the axis), passing and turning areas for fire engines.
- Surroundings: scrub needing clearance — in wildfire-exposed areas the check merges with statutory brush clearance obligations.
The drone replaces neither hydrant flow and pressure measurements nor suction tests: it documents condition and access, measurements stay on the ground. The stakes of water supply against fire are well documented scientifically: the reference review by Chi Yuan, Youmin Zhang and Zhixiang Liu, published in 2015 in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, details what drones bring to forest fire monitoring and fighting, from water point reconnaissance to early detection (see the study on Google Scholar).
Deliverables: from point record to GIS layer
The typical deliverable includes a record per water point (dated aerial and oblique photos, coordinates, observations: vegetation, access, level), a summary table ranking anomalies, and, for equipped municipalities, a GIS layer (georeferenced points with linked photos) ready for the municipal or intercommunal information system. High-stakes sectors can be covered by an orthophoto — useful for siting a new tank or checking RDDECI coverage distances.
The check slots naturally into a municipality's other drone uses: the municipal emergency plan (the same images serve crisis management), summer forest fire prevention patrols, water tower inspection or water network leak detection. Pooling several checks into one flying day cuts the unit cost sharply.
2026 prices
Orders of magnitude observed in France in 2026 (excl. VAT):
- Rural municipality (10 to 30 scattered water points): €500 to €1,200 for the full campaign with records and summary table.
- Intercommunal scale (round across several municipalities): tapering, typically €30 to €60 per point depending on dispersion.
- Add-ons: sector orthophoto €200 to €500, GIS layer included or optional depending on the requested format.
Given the amounts, the contract fits easily within small-scale public procurement. Request a quote attaching the (even approximate) list of water points and the existing municipal order if there is one: that is the basis of the estimate.
Put it into practice
- Drone security & surveillance: rates and cities covered from €600
- Security & surveillance in Narbonne Occitanie
- Security & surveillance in Arles Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
- Security & surveillance in Belfort Bourgogne-Franche-Comté