As the U.S. fire season intensifies year after year, California authorities are adopting new and innovative approaches to land management and fire containment. It launched with it a program that uses drones to carry out aerial surveillance operations, data collection, Facilitate emergency response in difficult circumstances, When helicopters are unable to perform the task.

Every year, firefighters in the United States of America face an increasingly intense wave of wildfires. The highest rates are in specific states such as California, which over the past century has seen a sharp rise in the number, intensity and effects of fires. It is mainly due to severe heat waves and droughts as a result of the global climate change crisis. Because of them, Wildfire fighting efforts are no longer as seasonal as they once were. Rather, it has become a year-round hazard, It results in disasters that devour land and threaten homes and lives.

Therefore, The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection adopts several strategies, Such as starting fires to contain them proactively, It succeeds in controlling about 95% of it, About 500,000 hectares are burned annually in air operations carried out by helicopter pilots for decades. During which the administration defines lines for ignition and control lines, To prevent flames from spreading.

But these operations involve many risks, It has been the victim of tragic accidents such as the plane crash that killed 16 employees in less than a decade. Where the risk increases in conditions of lack of visibility, at night or in the presence of heavy smoke, Sometimes it is impossible to collect data using conventional piloted aircraft. Besides, Fires generate heat that affects weather conditions, The constant interaction between fire and atmosphere also causes dynamic and local changes in wind speed and direction, Standard weather models and expert judgments alone cannot predict them.

Accordingly, A new system had to be adopted to increase the effectiveness of operations and protect the safety of management crews and fight forest fires, and securing additional resources to support frontline workers. Therefore, The California Department of Land and Fire Containment has launched a program under which its 21 units distributed across the state can use drones to perform air surveillance tours, data collection and other emergency operations.

Drones can travel long distances, It is equipped with sensors, high-resolution infrared cameras and thermal imaging. And through them, Aircraft operators will collect accurate live data, such as the lines of spread of fire, its location, direction and source, Whether day or night, The technology also enables live broadcasting to operations rooms, surveillance and emergency rapid response officers.

During the process of pre-emptive arson from the air, Drones take thermal images, Then receive a load of combustible materials to start a fire and create lines to contain it by bulldozer or manually. When a fire breaks out on top of a hill and approaches a residential area, Response teams light some small-scale fires in separate places, and so, They can control and direct the intensity of the total fire. These aircraft can also be used to monitor firefighters as they work on site.

The department also uses several other tools such as artificial intelligence and data analysis, that help firefighters in both urban and terrestrial environments, By providing them with early warnings in case of danger, the researchers were able to create artificial intelligence models that provide new data packages based on the institutional knowledge of local staff. Within this direction, Authorities are trying to model thousands of seasons of industrial fires, gather ideas and synthesize the experiences of fire brigades, most of whom have relatively short careers.

These tools include: A new AI-based tool that uses machine learning to suggest the locations of fire containment lines has emerged. Taking into account the distance from the public road, The distribution of hills and flatlands, and the type of flammable material present on the ground, It also takes samples of the outer lines of the fire based on historical data.

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) also created, It is one of the laboratories of the United States Department of Energy, Rapid Disaster Response Analytics System, which uses satellite imagery, aircraft, artificial intelligence and cloud computing to assess the impact of natural disasters, Including forest fires. Thus, Instead of waiting for pictures for hours, The system can detect the boundaries of forest fires several times a day. Impact and risk rates were linked to several factors such as buildings, substations and surrounding critical infrastructure.

After the last fire season ended in the summer of 2021, The Department will use the data extracted from it to establish a training program for drone operators in Florida, The department also seeks to employ modern science in the rehabilitation of fire-damaged lands.

Drones will not replace human labor, But it will provide essential resources for communication, coordination and information gathering, It will be the starting point for studying the impacts and challenges so as to promote the use of these technologies in firefighting. The state-of-the-art cameras will allow for a clearer view than ever before even when there is thick smoke. Using this technique, Fire fighting units will be able to provide those concerned on the ground with live and accurate information in various circumstances, To enable them to make more informed tactical decisions, rapid incident response planning, And coordinate the work of fire brigades and search and rescue.

In addition to saving lives on the ground and in the air, These technologies will contribute to the preservation of vegetation and the ecosystem in general.

References:

• https://medium.com/faa/drones-revolutionize-wildland-firefighting-bc71a29d7984
• https://statetechmagazine.com/article/2021/12/firefighting-drones-help-localities-battle-blazes-wild-and-cities-perfcon