Local News

Snowy Mountain Fire

Press Release


Aug 08, 2018

The Northwest Incident Management Team 12 (NW IMT12) has mobilized in Washington state to monitor and plan a response to the Snowy Mountain Fire currently burning in British Columbia, Canada in the event that it spreads across the border.  Firefighters are using some of the latest airborne-reconnaissance technology – the Silent Falcon, to hunt down solutions to the potential threat.

No typical unmanned aircraft system (UAS), this fixed-winged, carbon-fiber bird of prey catapults from its perch overlooking the border to soar at 10,000 feet before delivering real-time data to NW IMT12.  Operations planning staff will apply this intelligence to develop fire containment contingencies based on modeled potential for fire spread.

From the ridge-top launch site, the two pilots guide the aircraft through circular patterns along the edge of the border, allowing the remotely operated camera to transmit still and video images to a screen on the ground-based console. Another screen tracks the position and flight pattern of the aircraft. The remote camera operator pans the landscape and zooms in and out, alternating from frames to video to smoke-piercing infrared. Images reveal the detailed contours of ridges and valleys highlighted with the yellow-orange blaze of fire and hotspots.  

The Silent Falcon is one of the newest tools in the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) fledgling UAS Program. The program contracts private sector companies to supply a complete suite of “call-when-needed” UASs to meet firefighting needs on demand. “We think of this as a supplement to the aviation fleet,” explains Gil Dustin, BLM National Aviation Office’s manager for UASs. “We use it to free up other aircraft to do other things like drop water, carry people and haul cargo.” 

The Silent Falcon is a solar electric, 6.2-foot-long aircraft with a 14.4-foot wingspan.  It provides firefighters with an array of tools, including four different specialized infrared sensors, fire mapping capability, an infrared camera, spectrometer, and multispectral and hyperspectral imagers. The 3DR Solo rotary model that the BLM has been utilizing only flies for about an hour and is far more limited in speed, altitude, and capabilities.

Firefighters want the public to understand that when hobbyist drones fly over wildfires it interferes with operations which may be critical to protecting life and property, and it places firefighters at risk.  The UASs utilized by the firefighting response have specialized equipment, with advanced sensor technology and trained professionals who can interpret and apply the intelligence obtained.  They are working in direct communication and coordination with incident aircraft to ensure that no critical conflicts occur. “We are authorized to be here,” Dustin says. “We have training to be here and we follow the exact same protocols as the firefighting aviation crews; and we have the same training.”  UASs have great potential to improve the safety of firefighters, by directly reducing firefighter risk exposure, and providing better real-time intelligence about fire behavior.


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