Summary Reader's Response Draft #3

 According to “Drones Take Their Place on the Cutting the Edge of Wildfire'' (Patterson, 2021), though lifesaving backpack technology, such as drones are not new, they are not as accessible to firefighters. Therefore, professors at Georgia State University aim to develop better drones to fight wildfires more accessible. Their drone, named KHawk, is designed to fly autonomously with ground control while transmitting weather data, including forecasts of where the flames will spread next. The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) started flying drone missions in 2010 with about 200 total flights. DOI plans to expand the drone fleet mission and begin the first use of UAS for aerial ignition operations. The main concept of using the intentional ignition approach is to set a fire which burns back towards the main fire line, ultimately depriving the main fire line of adequate fuel to go forward, starving the flames, and putting them out. Drone Amplified, a company based in Lincoln, Nebraska, developed the IGNIS drone payload system. Soon, remotely piloted aircraft will play an increasingly essential role in fighting wildfires.

Drones have been playing a crucial role in the community by fighting fires. As the threat of wildfires grows across the country, drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), are increasingly utilized in wildfire management and suppression. In my opinion, drones can detect hotspots for wildfire, start ‘prescribed burns’ and help with recovery of the forest.

Firstly, drones can be dispatched to spot and locate hotspots for wildfires. Drones are often equipped with multiple electro-optical and thermal sensors. These electro-optical and thermal sensors use infrared radiation to help crews find heat signatures of both humans and fire hotspots (Allison et al., 2016). In addition, infrared images are often clear enough to identify fires, firebreaks, personnel and even fire types. Thus, allowing firefighting personnel to tackle the wildfire more efficiently. Furthermore, they help firefighters determine where a fire will spread through tracking and mapping fire patterns (Hinkley & Zajkowski, 2011). The firefighter will receive these data instantly to ensure the real time update of the wildfire. This allows firefighters to execute the operations effectively and accurately.

Secondly, drones can conduct "prescribed burns" or controlled forest fires that aim to mimic natural fires. Firefighters have traditionally started fires to burn vegetation that might generate fuel for wildfires (Toivanen & Kotiaho, 2007). The controlled fire is beneficial for the soil as it helps with the decomposition of the plant

s and brings nutrients to the soil. Prescribed burns can melt the wax on some seeds to ensure reproduction of the plants (Parker, 2020). Lastly, setting a fire that is intended to burn back towards the main fireline reduces the amount of fuel available to the central fire by the time it reaches the burnt area. Thus, starving the flames and putting them out. Since drones are able to manoeuvre swiftly in air, they can ignite the controlled fires quickly to minimise the destruction of wildfire.

According to Almeida et al. (2019), drones have lidar sensors installed to ensure plot-scale evaluation and they can scan for the structure and function of the reforestation. Moreover, drones are being used more in professions such as agriculture and forestry. Monitoring fields and planting crops requires time and manpower. With the help of artificial intelligence, agriculture drones allow farmers to get a more in-depth data analysis on their plants and new tools capable of handling physical work (Ehrenberg, 2018). Drones also allow farmers to sow many seeds across the field. Drone spraying can also provide significant environmental advantages by covering more territory at a reduced cost (Tripicchio et al., 2015). Additionally, drones leave no ground damage and are faster, making them more efficient for farmers.

The downside of incorporating drones as firefighting aircrafts is that there are civilian drones flown that interfere with the aircraft’s flight path. The pilots of fire fighter drones do not have any way of communicating with these civilian. Hence authorities have to take down the drones. 15 firefighting aircraft were shut down by civilian drones (Inobody, 2018). As the cost of owning drones decreases, more individuals are purchasing them on a consumer level (Benson, 2020). According to Benson, (2020) drones have interfered with firefighting activities in 21 occurrences in this year alone. Thus, many states have now enacted regulatory bills to prevent these situations from occurring.

In conclusion, drones play a vital role in fighting wildfire as they have multiple sensors to aid with collecting data of the fire. Moreover, drones can limit the damage by starting controlled fires which in turn helps with recovery of the forest by planting seeds.

References

Almeida, D. R. A., Broadbent, E. N., Zambrano, A. M. A., Wilkinson, B. E., Ferreira, M. E., Chazdon, R., Meli, P., Gorgens, E. B., Silva, C. A., Stark, S. C., Valbuena, R., Papa, D. A., & Brancalion, P. H. S. (2019, April 4). Monitoring the structure of forest restoration plantations with a drone-lidar system. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 79, 192-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2019.03.014
Allison, R., Johnston, J., Craig, G., & Jennings, S. (2016). Airborne Optical and Thermal Remote Sensing for Wildfire Detection and Monitoring. Sensors, 16(8), 1310. https://doi.org/10.3390/s16081310
Benson, K. (2020, November 27). The Pros and Cons of using Drones in Firefighting Efforts. ArcGIS StoryMaps; Esri. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/cd8eab29f9584243b7efcdaf239744d1
Ehrenberg, R. (2018). Eyes in the sky: 5 ways drones will change agriculture. Knowable Magazine. https://doi.org/10.1146/knowable-101118-3
Hinkley, E. A., & Zajkowski, T. (2011). USDA forest service–NASA: unmanned aerial systems demonstrations – pushing the leading edge in fire mapping. Geocarto International, 26(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2011.555823
Inbody, K. (2018, August 13). Drones interfering with wildland firefighting across the West. Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2018/08/13/drones-interfering-firefighting-fires-across-west-montana/980301002/
Khan, Md. N. H., & Neustaedter, C. (2019). An Exploratory Study of the Use of Drones for Assisting Firefighters During Emergency Situations | Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Conferences. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300502
Parker, L. (2020, January 22). Drones shoot fireballs to help control wildfires. National Geographic Society. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/drones-shoot-fireballs-help-control-wildfires/?utm_source=BibblioRCM_Row
Patterson, T. (2021, October 7). Drones Take Their Place on the Cutting Edge of Wildfire Fighting: Modern Flying. Flying Mag. https://www.flyingmag.com/drones-wildfire-fighting/
Stehr, N. J. (2015). Drones: The Newest Technology for Precision Agriculture. Natural Sciences Education, 44(1), 89. https://doi.org/10.4195/nse2015.04.0772
Toivanen, T., & Kotiaho, J. S. (2007). Mimicking natural disturbances of boreal forests: the effects of controlled burning and creating dead wood on beetle diversity. Biodiversity and Conservation, 16(11), 3193–3211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9172-8

Tripicchio, P., Satler, M., Dabisias, G., Ruffaldi, E., & Avizzano, C. A. (2015). Towards Smart Farming and Sustainable Agriculture with Drones. 2015 International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 140-143. https://doi.org/10.1109/ie.2015.29