![]() The project’s team leads an interagency working group to assess and identify the concepts and technologies needed to address the challenges ahead. NASA T he Future of Wildland Fire ResponseĪCERO is collaborating with other government agencies, the science community, and commercial industries to develop a concept of operations for the future of wildland fire management. It would also enable crews to execute controlled burns over larger acreages of land each year. Remotely operating drones for these operations would be safer and cheaper than deploying ground crews and helicopters. Currently, these types of burns are set by a combination of piloted helicopters, ground grew, and a very limited amount of drones. These advancements are critical for enabling new drone missions for aerial wildfire response, like fire suppression, delivering gear to ground crews, and providing communication relays in areas with limited connectivity.ĭrones could also be used for prescribed burns, or fires set and controlled by experts designed to burn away the dead brush that acts as fuels and can lead to large-scale wildland fires. Having this situational awareness will enable responders to safely integrate drones into wildfire operations and continuously suppress and monitor a fire over its entire lifetime, which is not currently possible.ĪCERO’s advancements in aerial communication and information-sharing tools and concepts will improve airspace management during wildland fires and provide response crews more timely information to support decision-making during emergency response. ACERO-developed aircraft safety software will also reduce the likelihood of encountering airborne hazards. ![]() These technologies will provide all responders with common situational awareness and ensure there are no conflicts with aircraft operations. To address this issue, ACERO is developing airspace management technologies to share information between crewed aircraft, drone operators, and ground crews during wildfire responses. One significant barrier that continues to prevent this adoption is lack of tools and situational awareness for responders to see where firefighting drones are operating. Though drones and other aviation technologies have rapidly advanced over the last decade, emergency responders have been slow to adopt them. Using drones for aerial suppression operations would reduce safety risks to pilots and make aerial wildfire operations more effective. Drones can help expand the window of time available for aerial suppression because they can be safely operated by pilots on the ground. That means aircraft are grounded during the night and during periods of heavy smoke. ![]() NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project – led by the agency’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California – is using drones and advanced aviation technologies to improve wildland fire coordination and operations.Ĭurrent aerial firefighting operations are limited to times when aircraft have clear visibility – otherwise, pilots run the risk of flying into terrain or colliding with other aircraft. Containing and responding to these fires also requires collaboration among firefighters and ground crews, and the coordination of dozens of aircraft operated by multiple government agencies. Suppressing these blazes is a complex and costly operation – with suppression costs averaging $2.9 billion over a five-year period. ![]() Each year, thousands of wildfires release large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and burn roughly 1.5 million acres of forests and grasslands throughout the country, according to the U.S. ![]()
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