Summary Reader Response Draft #3
According to the article "Drones
Take Their Place on the Cutting Edge of Wildfire Fighting" (Patterson,
2021) states, though life-saving backpack technology such as drones is not new,
firefighters do not have access to it. As a result, Georgia State University
researchers are working to improve drones to better combat wildfires. Patterson
claims that their drone KHawk is designed to fly autonomously while
transmitting weather data, including forecasts of where the flames will spread
next.
Patterson also states, "The U.S.
Department of Interior (DOI) started flying drone missions in 2010 with about
200 total flights." DOI plans to expand the drone fleeting mission and
began the first use of UAS for aerial ignition operations. The fundamental idea
behind employing the intentional ignition strategy is to start a fire that
burns back towards the main fire line, eventually starving the flames and
putting them out by depriving the main fire line of adequate fuel to go
forward. Drone Amplified, a company based in Lincoln, Nebraska, developed this
IGNIS drone payload system.
Drones have been playing a crucial role
in the community by fighting fires. I believe that in the near future, drones
will be able to locate hotspots for wildfire, initiate controllable fires, and
plant seeds for forestry.
In the past few years, the utilization
of artificial intelligence (AI) in drones and small-scale unmanned aircraft
systems (UAS) have become popular in helping to fight forest fires by detecting
their hotspots. (Ambrosia et al., 2003) showed that small-scale unmanned
aircraft systems (UAS) could help monitor wildfires, and this technological
innovation could significantly reduce the cost of wildfire management response.
For instance, drones and other small-scale UAS utilize infrared radiation to
help first responders find human heat signatures and fire hotspots, which
indicate where flames are most likely to spread (Burke et al., 2019). This
shows that drones are beneficial for forest fires that quickly get out of
control. This article supports the argument that drones will soon locate
hotspots for wildfires.
Research has shown drones are not just
used to fight wildfires; they also manage forest fires, and lately, drones have
been used to assist in prescribed fires. A good example is the IGNIS system,
which is amplified by drones and contains many chemical spheres loaded with
glycol that burst shortly after impacting the ground, lighting a small fire
(Surya, 2020). The idea behind this tactic is that once the fuel has been burned,
it cannot be burned again. Thus, if a grass fire travels in one direction and
the drone starts a fire from that point onwards towards the fire, there will be
no fuel left to burn, and the fire will go out (Liu et al., 2016), decreasing
the fuel load. These drone-based rescue interventions would eventually make the
task of the fire rescue team much more effective and contribute to reducing the
overall damage.
Aside from drones' utility in fire
management, they are also utilized in plant health by planting seeds for
forestry. Following an ice storm that impacted 11 states in the United States
back in January 2016, McElwee (2021) discovered that West Virginia's Division
of Forestry began using drones to monitor current logging jobs and post-harvest
activities to ensure that best management practices are being followed. The
blizzard destroyed most of the plantations in the cities and had to be
replanted. Routine inspections that once took several hours to complete could
now be done under an hour with a drone, emphasizing another benefit of using
drones.
While there are many advantages to
drones in fire management and forestry, there are also several limitations.
First, is the challenge of equity and probability. No matter how much experts
study using AI to predict fires, technology is still a bright shiny object, and
fires might be more complex than they seem (Edlinger et al., 2019). Moreover,
another challenge is dealing with the different variables that influence fire
behaviour in wildland and urban environments. For instance, human behaviour,
ignition sources, weather etc. (Velencoso et al., 2018). Thus, it remains
favourable to use predictive analytics to improve the efficacy of fire
preparedness, prevention, and mitigation remains a good option (Yfantis, 2017).
In conclusion, with various
infrastructure developments and more deployment of smart cities, fire detection
and extinguishing are becoming a concern for nations. These drone-based rescue
interventions would eventually make the task of the fire rescue team much more
effective and contribute to reducing the overall damage.
References
Ambrosia, V. G., Wegener, S. S.,
Sullivan, D. V., Buechel, S. W., Dunagan, S. E., Brass, J. A., Stoneburner, J.,
& Schoenung, S. M. (2003). Demonstrating UAV-Acquired Real-Time Thermal
Data over Fires. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 69(4),
391–402. https://doi.org/10.14358/pers.69.4.391
Burke, C., Wich, S., Kusin, K., McAree,
O., Harrison, M., Ripoll, B., Ermiasi, Y., Mulero-PázmányM., & Longmore,
S. (2019). Thermal-Drones as a Safe and Reliable Method for Detecting
Subterranean Peat Fires. Drones, 3(1), 23.
https://doi.org/10.3390/drones3010023
Christensen, B., Herries, D., Hartley,
R. J. L., & Parker, R. (2021). UAS and smartphone integration at wildfire
management in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science,
51. https://doi.org/10.33494/nzjfs512021x127x
Edlinger, R., Zauner, G., & Zauner,
M. (2019). Hazmat label recognition and localization for rescue robots in
disaster scenarios. Electronic Imaging, 2019(7), 463–461463–466.
https://doi.org/10.2352/issn.2470-1173.2019.7.iriacv-463
Liu, P., Yu, H., Cang, S., &
Vladareanu, L. (2016). Robot-assisted smart firefighting and interdisciplinary
perspectives. 2016 22nd International Conference on Automation and Computing
(ICAC). https://doi.org/10.1109/iconac.2016.7604952
McElwee, E. (2021, December 8). Drones
Use in Forestry 2021 https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/24060/Drone%20Use%20in%20Forestry_McElwee_20211208.pdf?sequence=1.
Dukespace.
https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/24060/Drone%20Use%20in%20Forestry_McElwee_20211208.pdf?sequence=1
Patterson, T. (2021, October 7). Drones
Take Their Place on the Cutting Edge of Wildfire Fighting. FLYING Magazine.
https://www.flyingmag.com/drones-wildfire-fighting/
Smithsonian, M. (2021, August 20). From
Supercomputers to Fire-Starting Drones, These Tools Help Fight Wildfires.
Smithsonian Magazine.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/from-supercomputers-to-fire-starting-drones-these-tools-help-fight-wildfires-180978421/
Surya, L. (2020, October 10). Fighting
fire with AI: Using deep learning to help predict wildfires in the US.
Research Gate.
https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=025078121121077079086103064028102009116008031085056044126102097009101074075088126065033020049102118033018088017122124067093104105041060022013118093117074109102000066006050071071103009003124081127116083085064123084125100120104121005081121015097091105111&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE
Velencoso, M. M., Battig, A., Markwart,
J. C., Schartel, B., & Wurm, F. R. (2018). Molecular Firefighting—How
Modern Phosphorus Chemistry Can Help Solve the Challenge of Flame Retardancy. Angewandte
Chemie International Edition, 57(33), 10450–10467.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201711735
Yfantis, E. A. (2017, October 5). An
Autonomous UAS with AI for Forest Fire Prevention, Detection, and Real Time
Advice and Communication To... ResearchGate; unknown.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321290336_An_Autonomous_UAS_with_AI_for_Forest_Fire_Prevention_Detection_and_Real_Time_Advice_and_Communication_To_and_Among_Firefighters
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