I wanted to find some information for you on how unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones are being used by wildland firefighters to help them fight wildfires. In going through some of my files and bookmarks, two things jumped out at me. One was using UAS for mapping wildfires and the other involved dropping small round ping pong balls to fight fire with fire. Fortunately I found one good video in my bookmarks which lead me to two more videos I will share with you. I will let the videos speak for themselves.
This video, from September 2020, is from KCAU in Sioux City Iowa reporting on drones in Colorado dropping special ping pong balls with chemicals that the video refers to as "dragon eggs" to fight wildfires with fire.
Direct link to video from KCAU on Youtube
The second video is a report from ABC 15 in Arizona (August 2019) reporting on how wildland firefighters in Arizona used drones to map wildfires as well as dropping special "ping pong balls" to fight wildfires with fire.
Direct link to video from ABC15 in Arizona on Youtube
The third and final video is a September 2018 report from CNET on how drones were being used that summer in California to fight wildfires. This video is just under four minutes. At about 2:51 you will hear a reference to the US Government contracted with four contractors to fly fixed wing drones to fight wildfires on federal lands; I have no further information on this so I can not comment.
Direct link to video from CNET on Youtube
I am going to keep on with reading and otherwise learning more about how UAS are being used to assist wildland firefighters in fighting wildfires or in post-fire recovery and rehabilitation. I will share with you what I learn at the appropriate time.
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