Earlier this summer, a banana lake fire broke out near the plains, Montana, which is overwhelmed by more than 850 acres in fire in one day. the “Total repression” response Among the firefighting officials, the deployment of at least 17 engines, a helicopter and three bulldozers, as well as high training teams. But there is another part of the technology that also played its role as firefighters worked to contain the fire: drone.
Lake Banana was one of several fires in the early season of the state this year. Until this lines, there is finished 20,000 acres burn through seven major forest fires in MontanaIn different levels of containment. And increasingly Hot and dry conditions throughout the American West The fire makes an enemy more than ever.
It also begins a new era with the natural disaster, which enhances both the firearms and researchers all over the West with their arsenal with advanced tools. Done -flying aircraft fly over firefighters, special satellite companies monitor fire and smoke from the top, and automatic learning models help artificial intelligence to advance fire research. Although these new innovations are not dark, ground operations and scientists are optimistic about ways that modern technology can help fight more intelligent, not more difficult.
Since 2018, drones – sometimes referred to as unmanned air systems, or UAS – were flying under the radar as a new tool for forest service in the United States to fight huge fires. Thanks to a large part of Dirk Giles, who launched and drove the UAS program for the agency, the number of drones that it publishes every year jumped by the forest service from 734 trips in 2019 to more than 17,000 in 2024.
“The program has already achieved a new step in the past three years,” said Giles. “We see UAS complement the firefighting sets at all stages of response.”
“It is now now recognized by UAS as a prolific production,” said Ray FIPS, the supervisor of the Department in District 1 of the forest service, which includes Montana. “There was a time when we didn’t think he was trying to request a drone for operations. They became a great tool that changes the game.”
John Steimmer
According to Phips, drones are increasingly seen as doubling the power by forest service employees. Done -equipped drones with infrared sensors can help detect the remaining hot points, endangering areas at risk of reference. In the past, firefighters had to accurately verify handicrafts, which could take days at one time a country of workforce depending on the size of the region. With supervisors like Phips read a thermal map on a screen fed by drones, firefighters who have shoes on the ground can be sent safely and efficiently, just go to sites that have high heat signatures.
“It saves a lot of time and the danger of the crews,” said Fibs.
For helicopters, who help in controlling forest fires by dropping water or fire inhibitors to suppress fire and create firefighters for the landfills to control fire, drones can help. Pre -programmed flying tracks with infrared sensors allow UAS to fly via heavy smoke or at night. This reduces the need for “low and slow” reconnaissance missions, which require pilots near the ground in difficult terrain and low vision. According to Giles, these tasks are one of the most dangerous pilots in land lands. As their name suggests, uninhabited air systems provide a way to conduct surveillance without pilots being at risk – which means that UAS can open new firefighting capabilities in harsh conditions.
“Basically, you can transport drones until someone is hurt.” “You can replace a drone. You can’t replace someone.”
Although Giles, Phips and others believe that drones show a great promise – especially in changing risks from firefighters to a small cooler machine – they are far from being a silver bullet. The machines have a limited battery life and can only complete flights about 15 minutes on average, which means that publishing operations must be carefully planned. Since drones are still studying in many fire management applications, the workforce is still needed to verify the “terrestrial truth” of the information provided by UAS.
Another restriction is simply available. According to Phips, there are not many drones as there is a request for them.
Ironically, there is also a threat to drones, especially owned by private ownership, in the way of official operations. If the drones are hobby in the airspace near the wildfire, this is not available for land administration agencies for aviation. During a massive fire in Montana in 2022, air crew operations It came to a dead end As a drone, not approved in an area with a temporary restriction. Officials were able to locate the drone owner in about 15 minutes – but this is a precious time when the fire is raging.
Just two weeks ago during a huge fire near Provo, Utah, the firefighters were Close by multi -drone incursionsDisplaying fire management on a high -level fire near a thick population community. Although UAS has become more important in firefighting, officials must also work to educate civilians to ensure that they are not prevented from unauthorized from flying.
John Storf “/>John Steimmer
Another field of fire management that showed drones showed some promise to lighting and controlling burns – the deliberate fire set to wipe the dry brush and other fuel.
The History of the Fire Administration has disrupted in the suppression of natural fire courses that indigenous communities were one day known – courses that many environmental scientists now overlook. With the spread of colonialism throughout the West and settlers sought to control lands and resources, racist assimilation programs made all kinds of original habits. The prescribed burning was one of them.
But with the consequences of this most aggressive approach, the phenomenon in fire management has become clear, the Western flag has increased the effectiveness of the routine burning. One modern Stanford Ticket It revealed that the described burns can reduce the severity of subsequent forest fires with an average of 16 percent and 14 percent smoke pollution. Fire professionals also realized their potential, Requests grow on an annual basis.
Enter another new drone strain: UAS that can be equipped to carry “dragon eggs”, sets of Pingpong ball from flammable potassium cooking that ignites the effect. This innovation helped the forest service burn it 189,000 acres in 2024 To reduce built fuel.
While the use of burns described in height, In Montana Elsewhere, concerns about public safety risks, whether from air pollution or the possibility of controlling control. Technology helps to address these types of questions as well.
Researchers in Montana are looking to clarify some of the remaining fog of safety concerns about the burns prescribed through the National Science Foundation funded by the National Science Foundation Smart Fires project. (The project title is an abbreviation of sensors, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in the actual time of fire.) The group, specialized in areas of chemistry in the atmosphere to public health, will use the grant for five years of study and field work that aims to empty the environmental and social dynamics required to expand the scope of the burns described as a preventive measure of the wilderness. The set of allocated tools that the project uses includes some royal UAS.
“The drones are just a tool,” said John Shepard, who leads the computer science team. He added that his role in the project is a supportive role – to find out how these technological tools can enhance the various research goals.
Using smart sensors and high -resolution cameras installed on drones and ground locations, the researchers train artificial intelligence models to analyze the burns prescribed during flying. Various smart sensors will efficiently process data processing, and in conjunction with weather information and historical information, you will look forward to designing the Burn movement on the scene.
Before performing a specific burning, practitioners usually study environmental factors such as wind, humidity and temperature. These artificial intelligence models will present in theory an improved version of this, and also include factors such as ground fuel and terrain to provide supervisors with the best possible data for burning accurately and safely.
Smart fires also irrigate the “Science Laboratory on the wheel”-a limited Ford Trazett truck looks directly Ghostbusters Film collection. The truck collects smoke directly from active fires, which are analyzed by environmental chemists to determine things such as PM2.5 – smaller particles of 2.5 microns, and attention to public health – and other pollutants in smoke.
The project’s social science arm will also involve members of society, survey rural societies and indigenous people in particular about their concerns and priorities related to the prescribed burns and ensure that these considerations are placed in risk assessments. The consortium ultimately hopes to provide interpretable interpowering predictions for land managers to help them determine when and where and how the prescribed burns can be used to prevent wild fires.
“The goal of the project is to improve artificial intelligence models so that they can make better recommendations for experts on the ground who know the best,” said Sheparbard.
While drones and AI open a new era of firefighting sciences, some of the most feeding experts on Earth have not yet been able to reach these types of advanced tools.
The Confederation tribes practiced Saleh and Coutinai in Montana, sometimes known by the CSKT shortcut, described as a land supervision tool for a long time. According to Ron Soyani, the fire department official in the CSKT fire department, the role of fire has long been guided by a deep cultural responsibility. “I think that many people reduce the role of the indigenous people burning the scene,” he said. “There was a purpose and intent to use the fire.”
Justin Andrews, a fire and fuel specialist described in CSKT, was in fire management in 19 years and was the first UAS pilot to be approved by the Indian Affairs Office in the northwest of the Pacific. For three years, he was trying to get a drone for the described burnings of the tribes. But because it does not work by the Ministry of Interior, it has not yet been cut off.
The Aviation Services Office, which lives within the US Interior Ministry, is responsible for all aircraft services and facilities – including the necessary certification card for UAS. According to Swaney, the tribe has a helicopter, one -engine aircraft, and an air attack platform. But since drones are a new application in fire management, non -federal firefighting departments may be exposed to a complex process to obtain a permission to use UAS.
Andrewwood said: “I will not feel very frustrated if my qualifications do not reflect other pilots,” Andrewwood said. “I have done every training provided by the Ministry of Interior, but I am still not sure what it will take to get the official cards to obtain UAS.”
While CSKT coordinates with public land agencies on the prescribed burns, the tribal nation sets its own fire management plan – one part of a larger plan that focuses on adapting climate change. The tribe’s approach in the fire weave together the knowledge of the ancestors and contemporary sciences. Soyani said that the inability to benefit from the latest technological tools has hindered these efforts, which confirms the importance of the role of technology in managing current and future fires.
Soyani said: “It is like living in dark ages.”