WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING

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WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING

very time I hear the words ‘drone’ and ‘wildland fire’ in the same sentence, an image of the US Forest Services' well publicised 'If you fly, we can't' poster immediately

comes to mind. Civilian drone operators have shut down fire suppression activities on a number of wildfires across the US, putting lives and property at risk so that they can capture video footage of the fire or its aftermath.

That is why I was intrigued this summer when I learned that the US Department of the Interior (DOI) was using its unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to assist firefighters on the Parker 2 Fire near Alturas, California. I promptly convinced my superiors that I should be sent out to document the DOI's contribution to suppression efforts.

I caught up with the DOI crew on a windy hilltop inside the Parker 2 Fire perimeter. DOI UAS pilot Steven Stroud and a technician were working at a folding table strewn with laptop

computers and high-tech camera equipment. On the rocky ground around them sat cases holding various UAS.

Both Steven Stroud and his partner are DOI-trained UAS pilots and National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) qualified wildland firefighters. The NWCG certification is important for two reasons. Firstly, as wildland firefighters, they understand their mission and can interpret the data they gather. Secondly, without NWCG wildland line qualifications, they would not be allowed to work within the fire perimeter.

Stroud is passionate about his work with the DOI. He recognises that he is a pioneer in a technology that will revolutionise how we fight wildland fires. He explained that in the United States, the Federal Government oversees about 640 million acres of Public Lands. The DOI is responsible for the management of over 500 million of those acres. With this much ground to cover, the DOI has by necessity always been open to creative ways to achieve its management objectives, and has long been at the forefront of the use of aircraft for missions, such as wildlife monitoring, hydrology, geological and geophysical surveys.

Today the DOI is using UAS to augment its government-owned and commercially-contracted aircraft fleet. The department has determined UAS are more suitable for many missions than manned aircraft, achieving superior results without putting pilots at risk, and doing so at substantial savings over conventional aircraft.

In large part, credit for the success of the DOIs UAS programme has to go to Steven Stroud's boss, Mark Bathrick, director at the Offices of Aviation Services at the DOI. Director Bathrick served 25 years as a US Navy fighter pilot and was involved with the design, acquisition, and testing of drones for the US Navy.

Director Bathrick was recently recognised with an Industry Heroes award from the Commercial Drone Alliance for his contributions toward the broader adoption of drones for commercial applications. Under his leadership, the DOI has become a leader in the domestic use of UAS, employing UAS for more than 25 distinct mission applications and executing in excess of 12,000 flights.

E

Above: DOI UAS Pilot Steven Stroud

and a technician review the UAS flight

data. Below:Stroud points out terrain features

while holding a 3DR Robotics Solo Smart

Drone.

Above and beyond

The US Department of the Interior is demonstrating the huge potential of unmanned aircraft systems to assist firefighters with wildfire suppression. Michael Davis reports from the Parker 2 Fire in California.

WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING

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WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING

Even with the DOI's extensive pedigree in UAS operations, the Parker 2 Fire was a milestone in the history of the use of UAS in wildland firefighting. First of all, airspace above major wildfires is restricted to suppression aviation activity. Commercial and civilian aircraft are prohibited from entering the airspace. This prohibition is called a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction).

In an unprecedented show of cooperation between the US Forest Service, DOI and the Federal Aviation Authority, the FAA not only granted permission for DOI UAS pilot Steven Stroud to operate his UAS inside the TFR, but also issued a 24-hour Certificate of Authorisation allowing Stroud to fly his aircraft beyond line of sight. This was the first time the FAA had allowed UAS flight ‘beyond visual line of sight,’ or BVLS as it is referred to in FAA standards on a wildland fire.

This special permission enabled Stroud to fly his UAS along a pre-programmed grid pattern, travelling over 19 miles and scanning more than 500 acres. The fixed-wing UAS was outfitted with a high-resolution, radiometric infrared, computer-controlled camera. The camera snapped photos at precise intervals as it flew, each photo slightly overlapping the last.

When the UAS returned to its launch point, Stroud downloaded the data to a computer and used a specialised geographic information system programme to align and join the hundreds of individual photos to create one, three-dimensional, topographical, infrared map of the 500-acre plot.

The high-resolution map is three-dimensional. It can be turned on its axis, allowing the user to zoom in, change the angle of view and see fine detail. The system's infrared sensing capabilities catalogue surface temperatures to pinpoint the location of hot spots.

The 500-acre scan that Stroud created took only 34 minutes of flight time. The data he was able to gather in just over half an hour would have taken a crew of 20 wildland firefighters days to complete by hiking the mountainous the area.

In this case, Stroud's objective was to locate remaining heat sources and gather information on the effects of the fire. His equipment is also capable of accurately determining the perimeter of a fire to provide information used to improve mapping and calculate acres burned.

For the mapping operation, Stroud used a Firefly6 Pro from Birds Eye View Aerobotics. The Firefly6 is a large fixed-wing drone. It can carry a substantial camera and sensor payload and can remain airborne for an extended period. It can take off and land vertically, hover and manoeuvre like a multicopter, and transition to efficient forward flight. This type of UAS technology is regularly used by the DOI for wildlife monitoring, archaeological surveys, and even tracking volcanic activity.

Stroud had smaller UAS equipment as well – a portable 3DR Robotics Solo Smart Drone. The Solo and its gear is small enough to carry in a backpack and can be deployed from anywhere. It is piloted using a control panel and an iPad.

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Wildland fire crews are routinely sent into rough country to investigate lightning strikes with only an approximate idea of where the fire might be. Currently, they look for smoke and then climb and hike their way toward the last sighting. This is difficult, time-consuming, and dangerous work. If these crews were outfitted with one of Stroud's backpack infrared sensing drone kits, they could scan large swathes of forest and mountain from a single vantage point. This technology would increase safety by reducing the amount of time the crew spends hiking in rough terrain, and reduce costs through faster location of hot spots.

UAS could also help with aerial ignition activities. Typically, aerial ignition for a burnout operation is carried out with a plastic sphere dispenser (PSD) mounted in a helicopter. The PSD is loaded with one-inch plastic spheres commonly referred to as ping-pong balls. These balls are filled with potassium permanganate powder. The operator sets the PSD to drop the number of ping-pong balls required in a given interval, then just before the spheres are ejected, the PSD machine injects each one with a small amount of glycol. This triggers a chemical reaction, and within 30 to 40 seconds the spheres ignite.

Ariel ignition operations require a great deal of experience and skill, both for the helicopter pilot and the PSD operator. The pilot has to fly slowly and low, something any pilot will tell you is a dangerous manoeuvre in a helicopter and leaves the pilot little room for error. The PSD operator must be able to

take the distance to the ground and the speed of the helicopter into account so that he drops just the right number of ping-pong balls into the fuel bed. Too few and he may get a patchy burn and not create an effective fire break, too many and he may trigger more intense fire behaviour than is desired.

All these factors combine to make aerial ignition a costly and dangerous job. Today UAS are being designed and tested that are capable of aerial ignition. The drones that have been tested thus far carry only a dozen or so spheres and therefore have limited ignition ability. But, when you consider the cost of traditional aerial ignition, and factor in the mitigation of risk to pilot and crew, operating a swarm of UAS for aerial ignition makes sense both from an economic and risk management perspective.

Another way that UAS can help wildland firefighting in the near future is in the critical area of communications. No after-action report from any modern tragedy fire fails to list communication problems as a contributing factor.

Currently, fire teams in remote locations must rely on hilltop radio repeaters. Radio coverage dead spots are created due to terrain masking. High mountains block the radio signals, and they don't reach into narrow canyons. Radio repeater equipment carried by a ‘relay drone’ circling at a fixed altitude above the fire area would not be subject to the limitations of hilltop repeaters.

Furthermore, these drones could also relay real-time data and video, thereby enhancing the situational awareness of firefighters on the ground.

The cost of fire suppression is rising every year, quickly outpacing the budgets of agencies charged with managing these fires. In 1985, the combined cost of fire suppression for the USFS and DOI was just under US$234 million. By 2016 that figure had grown to US$1.9 billion. As more homes are constructed in the urban interface, the cost of fire suppression will continue to spiral upward. We must embrace technologies such as UAS to help us operate more safely, improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Left: The Firefly6 Pro is a large fixed-wing drone that can carry a substantial camera and sensor payload

and remain airborne for an extended

period. Right:

Tracking the progress of the UAS as it

travels over fire area.

About the Author:Michael Davis is a firefighter and

public information officer with the Elk Creek Fire Protection District in

Conifer, Colorado. He also serves as lead public information officer

for the Colorado Wildland Fire and Incident Management Academy, as well as being part of the Jefferson County Type III Incident Management Team (Jeffco Type III IMT).

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US Forest Service campaign poster warning civilian

drone operators of the risks of

interfering with fire suppression

activities.