Amir Emadi is CEO of Toofon, Inc., a Caltech spinoff that enables novel aerial logistics with its software-defined cargo drones.
As wildfires continue to threaten the safety and security of Americans, we must explore every option to combat this growing crisis. That is why the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has come together with experts from across the country to identify innovative new technologies to enhance our wildfire response efforts. In their recent report to President Joe Biden, PCAST highlights the critical role that drone technology can play in this fight). By acting as a force multiplier, drones allow our firefighters to do more with less and provide crucial information to help us determine the most effective strategies for attacking wildfires.
After a drone logistics demonstration at the San Bernardino Airport’s Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Center, county fire chief Dan Munsey stated, “In the fire service, we’ve been waiting for this [drone] application for quite a while. Frankly, this is a very safe and effective means of being able to do that transmission of the gear, the water that firefighters need.” Chief Munsey’s statement underscores the potential of drone technology in enhancing firefighting efforts, particularly in coordinating—and even transporting—resources effectively to hard-to-reach locations.
Aerial Logistics
One of the biggest challenges in firefighting is moving goods effectively. During the initial attack, when fires are the most dynamic, drones can help determine where to position critical equipment and then move those tools and supplies to strategic locations, freeing up firefighters to focus on attacking the fires themselves. During the extended attack, when firefighters have established a strong infrastructure, drones can provide critical support in transporting food, water and emergency supplies to firefighters in remote areas. And during the mop-up phase, when firefighters have contained the fire, drones can assist in the retrieval of equipment and hazardous materials.
Aerial Ignition
Firefighters create “fire breaks,” which is a process of deliberately setting sections of land on fire to control the spread all during an active fire. Strategically creating a fire removes any fuel for a wildfire that may be rapidly approaching someone’s home. Firefighters also create backburns, which is a manual process of deliberately setting fire to forests to avert a catastrophic wildfire in the future. These hazardous activities are traditionally conducted manually, with firefighters carrying torches and walking the areas they burn. But with the help of drones, firefighters can ignite these areas with greater precision and without putting themselves at risk. By using drones to assist with these critical tasks, incident commanders can allocate resources more effectively between suppressing and igniting fires.
Aerial Suppression
The difficult terrain, hazardous conditions and sheer size and intensity of wildfires make it difficult for firefighters to contain and extinguish fires using traditional methods alone. Aircraft and helicopters are typically used when wildfires are already thousands of acres. But these aircraft may be too large to deploy on hotspots or smaller fires. That’s where drones come in. Equipped with specialized technology to deploy fire retardant materials and able to operate in challenging environments, drones offer a powerful new tool for firefighters to enhance their suppression efforts. Drones can carry large payloads of these materials, making them particularly useful in remote areas or dangerous situations where traditional firefighting methods may be limited.
Aerial Mapping
When the incident command appears on the scene of a fire, the lead chief makes a lot of decisions based on his intuition and years of experience, but with a limited amount of information about the specific fire his team will face. Mapping a wildfire is a critical component of firefighting efforts. Drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and other sensors can create accurate maps of the area, aiding reconnaissance missions to identify hot spots, potential ignition sources or dangerous areas that personnel should avoid due to hazardous conditions. This is crucial in preventing fires from starting, and it allows firefighters to respond more quickly and effectively to active fires. Drones can also provide real-time images and video to create accurate maps of the fire’s perimeter and help predict the direction it will spread. This information would help inform incident commands as they make decisions on resource allocation to help prevent fires from spreading.
Aerial Resourcing
A lack of visibility on existing fire resources is one of the biggest challenges facing firefighting teams, especially in the largest fires. Beyond the above applications addressed in the PCAST recommendations, there is an even bigger opportunity at hand to set a new standard for situational awareness. Adopting drone technology can create a “smart fire” environment with instrumented assets, including firefighters, apparatus, pickup trucks, radios, planes and helicopters. Tracking wildfires in real time has been described as the “Holy Grail of Firefighter Safety.” For example, equipping firefighters with beacons and other connected devices creates a real-time network of information to help coordinate resources more effectively. Tracking movements, vitals, location and the status of firefighters and equipment enables incident commanders to better manage their resources and keep firefighters safe.
Conclusion
To make heavy-lift drone applications such as logistics viable and scalable, three challenges need to be addressed: the technological limits of uncrewed systems, the absence of infrastructure and the datedness of regulatory policies.
Current drone technology is limited in strength, control and scale. Finding a platform that can address these limitations along with associated services—smart landing and charging stations, pilots and pilot operations, service repair and training—helps solve the other two high-level challenges. In the case of infrastructure, landing stations allow for mobile and remote operations. In the case of policy, more capabilities typically mean more reliable and redundant systems that ensure safety.
The brave men and women who battle wildfires on the front lines face incredible, life-threatening challenges every day. They’ve taken a responsibility to protect us. But what is our duty to them? I believe the industry must advance technology such as drones for our physical security—to protect those who have risked their lives to protect ours.
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