Operators join to form United Aerial Firefighters Association

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

Leading aerial firefighting operators have joined together to form the first industry association dedicated to serving and fostering safety and standardisation in the aerial firefighting community.

The United Aerial Firefighters Association (UAFA) was founded at the end of 2022 as a non-profit association with the goal of informing policymakers and legislators about important issues concerning the increasingly critical nature of aerial wildland firefighting. 

UAFA exists to bring together industry experts for collaboration and to provide a unified voice for the industry when speaking to state and federal stakeholders, fire agencies, and the public about wildfires and issues impacting the aerial firefighting community.  The association is headquartered in Washington, DC, ensuring that members have a significant presence on Capitol Hill and at federal agencies. 

‘Tremendous change’

John Gould, President and CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, one of the founding members of the UAFA, said: “We’ve seen tremendous change occur in wildland fire aviation over the last twenty years. As we look ahead, these challenges will only become more significant.  While individual organisations within the industry will always be competitive, we believe the collective expertise represented within UAFA membership will help to ensure our industry continues to grow with the innovation, safety, and standardisation necessary to deliver the best service possible to our customers.”   

Gould serves as the inaugural President for the UAFA Board of Directors. Other Founding Members included on the Board are:  Vice President, Bart Brainerd, Firehawk Helicopters; Secretary/Treasurer Brett L’Esperance, Dauntless Air; Director Tim Sheehy, Bridger Aerospace; and Director Jennifer Draughon, Neptune Aviation Services.

UAFA membership is open to companies who own or lease and operate aircraft, UAVs/drones, or provide aerial-delivered suppressants/retardants under contract with federal or state governmental entities for aerial firefighting services. Companies who provide products and services to the aerial firefighting industry, non-profits, and state and national agencies are also encouraged to join. 

For information on the UAFA, visit UAFA.org, or email membership@uafa.org.

IFSJ Exclusive: Controlling the Burn with Drone Amplified

by Breaking NewsIFSJ ExclusivesWildland Fire

IFSJ takes an in-depth look at Drone Amplified, the controlled burning tool being used as a preventative measure against wildfire

In 2020, Drone Amplified, a company that pioneered wildfire fighting using drones, signed a contract with the US Forest Service to source and vet US-made drones to fight wildfires with Drone Amplified’s aerial ignition system. The $750,000 contract was designed to increase and scale the utilisation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for aerial ignitions in fire management and develop the next generation of aerial ignition capabilities.

The deal followed the successful development and deployment of Drone Amplified’s aerial ignition system called IGNIS – the only UAS-based aerial ignitions payload available to the US market that is approved for use on Federal prescribed fires and wildfires.

IGNIS’s patented technology carries a payload of standard ping-pong ball sized chemical spheres and can be integrated with infrared and other types of cameras. The spheres are pre-loaded with potassium permanganate and later injected with antifreeze prior to being released. The spheres then, ignite after hitting the ground, set off back burns to create defensive lines for firefighters in rugged and sometimes unreachable terrain.

Carrick Detweiler, co-Founder and CEO of Drone Amplified and Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) started Drone Amplified based on technology initially developed at the university works. IFSJ caught up with Detweiler to learn more about the innovative approach to controlled burning.

Prescribed burning

Drone Amplified is the pioneer in developing a drone-based aerial ignition system that is able to ignite backburns to contain wildfires and prescribed fires to help better manage our lands and reduce the risk of wildfires.

Detweiler explains: “On wildfires, backburns are used to burn the fuel (dead wood, leaves, etc) in a controlled way in advance of the main wildfire front so that when the main wildfire arrives, it does not have fuel and is easier to put out.

“Traditional techniques for conducting these burns either require putting people on the ground near fire or using expensive helicopters for aerial ignition. Our system, called IGNIS, is less costly to operate, more readily available than helicopters, and keeps firefighters safer.”

IGNIS attaches to a modified Freefly Alta X drone, which is made in the USA, and is equipped with a thermal and visual camera for situational awareness. IGNIS is tightly integrated with the drone to make easy to use in the complex fire environment.

“The ability to quickly get an eye in the sky to identify and track the fire provides an increased level of situational awareness that keeps firefighters safer,” says Detweiler. “Combining these real-time observations with the ability to quickly and safely set backburns, while keeping a distance from the fire, is changing the way that fires are managed. Firefighters do not need to just react to the fire, they can observe and change its behaviour through strategic aerial ignition.”

How it works

IGNIS uses small “ping-pong” ball ignition spheres that are also used by full sized helicopter ignition systems. “The way this works is that the ignition spheres have one chemical in them and shortly before we drop them, we puncture the ball and inject a second chemical,” Detweiler explains. “The balls then ignite 30-60 seconds after we drop them. IGNIS can drop anywhere from 10-120 ignition spheres per minute to adapt to the needs of the firefighters.”

The spheres set off backburns to create defensive lines for firefighters in rugged and sometimes unreachable terrain. IGNIS is controlled and automated with a custom app and allows drone operators to release the spheres with a high degree of accuracy in terrain that is often difficult to navigate with helicopters or airplanes. The drone’s dynamic ability to fly in densely smoky, high-altitude areas makes it extremely useful.

IGNIS ALTA X

In 2022, Drone Amplified launched IGNIS for the Freefly Systems ALTA X, the newest development in unmanned aerial ignition. Drone Amplified modified the ALTA X and IGNIS to integrate thermal and visual cameras, a customised ground station based on the Herelink Blue, and ADS-B in for situational awareness of other nearby aircraft.

Combined with the app that was designed by firefighters, the IGNIS ALTA X package comes as a ready to go field kit for the most demanding firefighting missions. It is capable of laying down miles of fire line in only a few minutes of flight. Durability and ruggedness drove the design of IGNIS ALTA X and required aggressive testing to assure dependability in high temperature, dusty and ashy environments and extreme conditions of the wildland fire environment.

Detweiler says that feedback from UAS fire operators helped refine the system into the powerful tool that has quickly gained a reputation for high performance and dependability in the field.

The IGNIS app

With features for firefighters and other organisations that need knowledge of land elevations, altitude and mapping, the IGNIS App allows firefighting teams to easily plan and execute waypoint missions to let the drone fly itself and ignite precise burn lines or use full manual operation.

It has multiple layers of safety built in, including a geofence that disallows ignitions outside the specified area, enhances safety by monitoring other aircraft in the area with ADS-B In, and maintain situational awareness by importing burn plans and maps with geo[1]referenced PDFs, KML/KMZs, and other formats for offline use.

By providing a bird’s eye map view, live video and telemetry, gimbal control, and the ability to take photos and video, the app has a range of features making it possible to interface with a range of drones, including the Freefly ALTA X, Inspired Flight IF1200, DJI drones, and others.

Firefighting teams can download elevation maps for terrain-aware flight and missions to the app which uses the maps to calculate the drone’s altitude above ground level, enabling safer flight and easier compliance with airspace regulations. Teams can see a side view of the planned waypoint mission and adjust the altitude of individual waypoints to avoid obstacles and maintain a constant altitude above the ground.

It is also possible to import shapefiles from Google Earth or georeferenced PDF files from ArcGIS, as the IGNIS app will display them as overlays on the map whilst flying and allows editing of custom KML/KMZ files. Users can configure a variety of settings on the drone and remote controller, and also perform compass calibrations with via the app. The app automatically logs flights and ignition locations to a file on the connected mobile device that can be opened by common spreadsheet programs.

Future plans

Drone Amplified is currently on the 2nd major version of IGNIS. Detweiler says they are continuously improving and advancing IGNIS and the associated software to advance firefighting technologies based on the feedback they receive from firefighters.

He adds: “We aim to continue to support wildland firefighters in any way that we can. US Firefighters have already started to change how they combat wildland fires and how they perform prescribed fire by leveraging our IGNIS system. We expect to expand more broadly to the worldwide market to help mitigate some of the risk of wildfires that we are seeing worldwide as the climate changes.”

This article was originally published in the January edition of IFSJ. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.

Images from Drone Amplified

At least 24 killed as wildfires rage across Chile

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

Firefighters battled dozens of raging wildfires in Chile over the weekend in a bid to gain control of one of the country’s worst natural disasters in years as the death toll rose to at least 24 with nearly 1,000 more injured, Reuters reported.

International arrived on Sunday including planes and expert firefighting teams, as the most intense wildfires torched forests and farmland clustered around three regions near the middle of the South American country’s Pacific coastline. Authorities said they were facilitating the arrival of assistance from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal and Venezuela.

The fires have so far consumed around 270,000 hectares, officials said on Sunday. A heat wave in the Southern Hemisphere’s summer complicated efforts to extinguish the flames.

There were 260 fires active across the region, interior ministry officials said on Sunday, with 28 of them considered especially dangerous.

Thirteen of those who have died come from Biobio, home to extensive forests as well as farms that grow grapes and other fruit for export. Nearly 1,500 people fled to area shelters. At least 26 of the 970 injured are listed in grave condition at local hospitals.

President Gabriel Boric issued emergency declarations for the largely rural southern regions of Biobio, Nuble and Araucania in an effort to speed relief, and stressed that his government would provide all necessary resources, while he also sought to inspire solidarity in the face of the deadly wildfires.

“I’ve seen the resiliency of our people, and it’s exactly that spirit that has to guide us during this difficult time,” he said. “All together, we’ll come out of this ahead.”

SFPE announce Fire Risk Assessment and Mitigation in the Wildland Urban Interface handbook

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SPFE) and SFPE Foundation has announced the publication of a free virtual handbook on fire-risk assessment and mitigation in the wildland urban interface (WUI). The Foundation has also awarded new funding to lead the development of a WUI risk assessment and mitigation curriculum targeting fire departments in the US.

The new virtual handbook, titled “WUI Virtual Handbook for Property Fire Risk Assessment & Mitigation,” provides engineering-based resource materials to support firefighters and fire departments operating in the wildland urban interface. 

Funded by a 2020 US DHS FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety grant and developed by an expert team from Jensen Hughes under the guidance of an esteemed advisory panel, the virtual handbook also identifies possible mitigation strategies for use in the field. 

The virtual handbook can be accessed from www.sfpe.org/WUIHandbook as an interactive, mobile-friendly, web-based resource or as a downloadable PDF.

Webinar

To support the new virtual handbook, SFPE will host a free webinar titled “Beyond the Checklist – A Virtual Handbook of Engineering Resources for WUI Property Fire Risk Assessment and Mitigation,” on Monday 13 February. 

The webinar will will be presented live and recorded for on-demand viewing and will introduce the content in the virtual handbook and provide guidance for conducting home risk assessments in the WUI.

To further prioritise education and training on WUI fire risk assessment and mitigation for fire department personnel, the SFPE Foundation has awarded new funding to the Mid-Atlantic Center for Emergency Management & Public Safety at Frederick Community College to lead the development of a WUI risk assessment and mitigation curriculum.

Supported by a 2021 US DHS FEMA FP&S grant, the team will:

  • Review existing training, best practices, and unmet needs to understand potential impacts;
  • Develop a curriculum of engineering-based science to address unmet needs;
  • Solicit feedback from engineering and fire service professionals on the proposed curriculum;
  • Pilot the curriculum at several U.S. fire departments; and
  • Create supportive videos, infographics, and public outreach materials to facilitate the development of partnerships for implementation.

Leslie Marshall, Ph.D., Director, SFPE Foundation, commented: “This virtual handbook and forthcoming curriculum add to SFPE and the SFPE Foundation’s portfolio of research and programs to support firefighters and fire departments operating in the wildland urban interface. Through the FEMA Fire Prevention and Safety grant program and with the generous support of donors and SFPE, the SFPE Foundation is committed to engineering a resilient, sustainable, and fire-safe world for all.”

Bulgaria and North Macedonia agree cross-border cooperation in forest firefighting

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

A cross-border network for natural disaster response has been established under a project between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia, involving 26 municipalities on both sides of the border.

The project, which concluded with a conference on Thursday, was implemented by the Association of South-Western Municipalities (ASWM) on the Bulgarian side and the Centre for Development of the South-Eastern Planning Region of the Republic of North Macedonia under the Interreg-IPA program for cross-border cooperation between the two neighbouring countries.

Lyubitsa Tomova, executive director of the ASWM, said that the project involved mainly voluntary units on the Bulgarian side and professional firefighting services on the side of the North Macedonia. A number of trainings have since been held, both in theory and in practice. In addition to the training programme, the project has established a cross-border network for response to natural and man-made disasters, and has supplied personal protective equipment and fire-fighting equipment. 

A Memorandum of Cooperation was signed during Thursday’s closing conference. Tomova invited everyone who is willing and recognises themselves in the objectives set in the memorandum to join and work in this direction within the next one month.

Zulieta Gjurgova, sector manager at the Development Centre of the South-Eastern Planning Region of the Republic of North Macedonia, called the agreement one of the best projects for this period of the Interreg-IPA programme and the work between the two countries, and it creates the basis that facilitates future volunteer trainings.

Oregon delays release of next wildfire risk map

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

The Oregon Legislature has said it will be considering a number of recommendations for changes related to the state-wide wildfire risk map during the 2023 session, some of which would substantively change the map itself.

Following conversations last week with the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire Programs Advisory Council, the state has decided to postpone the release of an updated draft of the map, which was planned for March 2023.

Cal Mukumoto, Oregon State Forester and director of the Oregon Department of Forestry, explained: “As we’ve been working with Oregon State University on technical adjustments to the map and planning for community outreach and engagement, we’ve also been keeping a close eye on the policy conversations happening in different venues.

“There were some great recommendations that came out of the Wildfire Programs Advisory Council’s first annual report and opportunities identified by Wildfire Programs Director Doug Grafe related to the map that I hope the Legislature gets the opportunity to explore during this session.”

These recommendations are in addition to several bills proposing a variety of changes ranging from which areas are assigned a risk classification to abolishing the map entirely. “We want to avoid expending resources on work that may not align with new direction that may come from the Legislature this session,” Mukumoto said.

Members of both the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the Wildfire Programs Advisory Council expressed support for continued mapping of wildfire hazards to identify where to direct investments in wildfire mitigation activities including fuels reduction and building defensible space.

“Our goal this session is to get resources and expertise to Oregonians already doing good work on the ground to protect their properties and neighborhoods,” said Senator Jeff Golden (D), Ashland. Golden chairs the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and was the chief sponsor of SB 762.

“It’s important to get that done and to do all we can to ease the homeowner insurance challenges that the era of megafires has brought us before moving forward with any map.”

Mark Bennett, chair of the Wildfire Programs Advisory Council, recognised the broad recognition of the need for increased outreach, education and engagement with communities: “We need an integrated, coordinated and robust communications and outreach effort across all Senate Bill 762 programs to help property owners understand what their classification means, how they can better protect their homes and what resources are available to help them with that work.”

OSU, ODF’s partner in the development of the map, will lend technical expertise to upcoming educational efforts related to wildfire risk and hazard. Tom DeLuca, dean of OSU’s College of Forestry, said: “We are prepared to support state agencies in education plans and will help develop and implement an operational plan as needed.”

Other state agencies with SB 762 responsibilities that have a nexus to the map are Office of the State Fire Marshal, Department of Consumer and Business Services – Building Codes Division and the Department of Land Conservation and Development.

Senator Golden added: “The success of this whole program depends on strong collaboration between state government, local leaders and property owners in wildfire-prone areas. Building that partnership has to be job number one over the coming months.

“When we feel like we’re pulling in the same direction, we’ll be ready for a much better conversation about the map.”

Portugal asks Europe for help ahead of 2023 fire season

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

Portugal has applied for European support to have more aerial support to fight fires in the summer of 2023, according to The Portugal News.

During a seminar on the 2022 rural fire season, José Luís Carneiro, Minister of Internal Administration of Portugal, said: “We have just applied for European Union funds for additional aerial firefighting assets that could be part of the rescEU [European Civil Protection Mechanism instrument] transition fleet for the summer of 2023, and I am convinced that we will complete this process with great success.”

Carneiro also said that Portugal is still available to receive one of the four pre-positioning centres for air, land and human resources that the European Union plans to make available in parts of Europe.

The minister said that he had spoken with the Minister of the Interior of Spain to point out that there is in Castelo Branco an air and logistical means centre: “That has logistical infrastructure conditions to support, not only the national territory, but to support the countries of the Mediterranean and also to support Spanish territory”.

Carneiro added: “We will now wait for the outcome of this contest. And, with this willingness on the part of the European Commission, Portugal naturally has all the openness and conditions to contribute with its logistical resources and with its organisational capacity, knowledge and availability to, in this way, contribute to the reinforcement of the RescEU.”

WFCA partners with Milliman to drive down risk of Wildland-Urban Interface

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

The Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) has entered a strategic alliance with Milliman, a global leader in risk management, to drive down risk in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). 

Milliman has an established expertise in WUI risk analysis through extensive work for its property insurance clients. Together, the organisations have the confidence, experience, and humility, to recognise the complexity and consequential magnitude of the WUI problem, including requiring the external expertise. 

The WFCA said that WUI communities are facing, and will continue to face for decades to come, extraordinary wildfire threats from a perfect storm of ecologic, economic, and climatologic forces, and it is impossible to “suppress” our way out of these conditions. 

Instead, they hope to induce persistent resilience in WUI communities through the adoption and maintenance of evidence-based mitigations at scale. The Association said that there is shared interest between the fire and insurance professions of zero property loss to property owners from the peril of wildfire is powerful and laid down its intent to bookend support for effective mitigations between them and minimise the barriers to implementation by property owners through public and private means.

WFCA Executive Director, Jeff Johnson said: “Milliman is a preeminent worldwide leader in the insurance and risk space. We can only rely on best of class collaborators like Milliman, who offer actuarial projections into the future, to help engineer our way out of the current wildfire property loss trajectory.  We have established this strategic alliance after several years of tightly focused tactical collaboration with Milliman that has consistently yielded high quality and implementable results within the property insurance space.”

Nancy Watkins, a principal and consulting actuary with Milliman, added: “At the end of the day actuaries and fire chiefs are trying to solve the same problem – to understand wildfire risk and figure out the best ways to reduce it. With this alliance, we’re combining the WFCA’s on-the-ground leadership with Milliman’s deep insurance and modeling expertise to create an innovative and holistic approach to measuring, communicating, and reducing wildfire risk.”

Bringing our combined expertise to bear, WFCA and Milliman will help mitigation efforts evolve from analysis to intelligent management and purposeful disruption of the fire pathways that enable disastrous conflagration in WUI communities. 

Summer wildfire emissions in Europe highest for 15 years

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

Carbon emissions from wildfires in the European Union and the United Kingdom for summer 2022 reached its highest levels since 2007, largely driven by emissions from wildfires in southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula in recent months, Copernicus has reported.

The August heatwave that hit western Europe, combined with prolonged dry conditions, saw increased levels of wildfire activity and intensity in the region ove the summer.

Wildfire activity in August contributed a total cumulative burnt area in the EU over the summer months (4 June to 3 Sept) of 508,260 hectares, compared to a 2006-2021 average of 215,548 hectares for the same period, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

The total cumulative burnt area in the EU from the start of the year to 3 September amounts to over 750,000 hectares, compared to an average of just over 260,000 hectares in 2006-2021.

This increased activity is also reflected in smoke emissions (including carbon gases, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds) from wildfires.

Data from the CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) shows that total wildfire emissions in the EU and the United Kingdom between 1 June and 31 August in 2022 are estimated at 6.4 megatonnes of carbon, the highest level since 2007.

In France as a whole, wildfires destroyed over 62,000 hectares from the start of the year to 3 September, six times the full-year average for 2006-2021, according to EFFIS data.

GFAS data show both France and Spain recording the highest carbon emissions from June to August since 2003. Comparing different years in the 20-year GFAS dataset helps to provide context for current fire emissions.

In other regions of Europe, Slovenia, Czechia, Hungary and Germany saw significant wildfire activity. In Germany, the cumulative burnt area amounted to 4,293 hectares, almost double the previous maximum of 2,437 hectares and significantly higher than the 2006-2021 average of just over 330 hectares, according to EFFIS data.

CAMS Senior Scientist and wildfire expert Mark Parrington commented: “The scale and persistence of the fires in the southwest of Europe, leading to the highest emissions for Europe in 15 years, was extremely concerning throughout the summer.

“The majority of the fires occurred in places where the changing climate has increased flammability of the vegetation, such as in southwestern Europe, and as we have seen in other regions in other years. CAMS is now closely monitoring the current fire emissions and smoke transport in the Amazon region, and across South America, as the peak fire season approaches in the coming weeks.”

Portugal to invest €250 million in firefighting in 2023

by Featured NewsWildland Fire

Portugal’s Minister of Internal Affairs, José Luís Carneiro, has reaffirmed that the Government will invest €250 million euros in preventing and fighting fires in 2023.

Speaking to local media, Carneiro said that all climate and meteorological forecasts point to an even more demanding 2023 and 2024 which will mean a likely increase in extreme fire events.

“We cannot wait for April, May, or June”, he warned, explaining that public investment planned in this area for next year is part of the “national effort” assumed by António Costa’s executive. The Minister of Internal Administration said it is important ‘to work on prevention well in advance’.

“There are more than 250 million euros that illustrate well the support of this Government to firefighters and the priority given to preventing and fighting rural fires”, Carneiro added.

He said that 52.7 million euros are likely to be allocated the Special Device for Combating Rural Fires (DECIR) and added: “The Portuguese Government will continue, in 2023, to pursue a path of strengthening the means for civil protection. We are going to go from 29.7 million euros of permanent funding to fire brigades to 31.7 million euros, which means an increase of 6.7% compared to 2022.”