Aerial Fire, The Aerial Firefighting Magazine, featured Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) multi-mission aircraft as making strides in early wildfire detection. Ryan Mason reports that the Partenavia P-68 Observer is not new at ODF, but using it for nighttime wildfire detection work is a new use. Using night vision and an FLIR camera system used with an augmented reality mapping stem, the Partenavia allows for quick detection and response to dozens of wildfires.

During fire season, the Partenavia flies at night looking for signs of wildfires started by lightning. ODF has developed a unique system by combining several technologies that has proven to be successful. ODF uses night-vision goggles (NVGs) and infrared sensors to initially spot suspected new fires. Then a laser pointer that is only visible in the NVGs, is used to communicate the exact position of the possible new fire to the camera operator. To confirm, the operator uses the infrared sensors and the high-power zoom to confirm whether it is actually a new fire and not another light source. Using these tools as a set makes them effective and saves valuable time.

When a new fire is identified, the observation is located on a map screen and the augmented reality system (ARS), which overlays all known information like roads, streams and names, onto a video screen as if they were on the ground. The still images and videos on these two screens give the parameters of where the fire is and a sense of what it is doing that can be loaded into a map for the ground crews to use. Attributes of the fire are drawn and labeled on the video screen, and the ARS turns those into data points and polygons.

Cole Lindsay, aviation coordinator for ODF’s Northwest Oregon Area told Mason of Aerial Fire, “As far as I’m aware, we’re one of the first states combining night vision and infrared into our aircraft to detect fires early. Using these tools together allows us to fly at night after a thunderstorm, find small fires in remote areas, and then send detailed information to our dispatch center so that they can send out the appropriate resources to extinguish the fire.”

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

In the 2022 fire season, DOF alone reported 225 fires by lightning and 672 fires caused by humans. This multi-mission aircraft (MMA) system was used to detect 69 fires, 60 of which were detected during extreme fire danger. The early detection of these fires helped to prevent the majority of them from growing into larger fires. Out of the 69 total detections, none of the fires on ODF-protected lands grew larger than 10 acres. Over the span of the season, ODF pilots and operators banked approximately 92 hours in the sky in search of new fire starts, the most in one night being 21 detections.

Neal Laugle, ODF Aviation Unit manager, told Aerial Fire, “We’re very proud of our achievements using the Partenavia. However, with the high demand for the resource, it’s difficult to meet the needs of the entire state with just one aircraft, which leaves our team having to prioritize certain areas over others during times of extreme fire danger in the state.”

The aircraft and program received investments in the 2021 Oregon Legislative Session that serves 3.5 million acres of forestland in northwestern Oregon. There is still a need for another multi-mission aircraft to better support the entire state. That isn’t likely since Governor Kotek’s DOF budget didn’t include wildfire risk reduction costs that the 2021-22 budget provided to cover fire costs and wildfire risk reduction.


--Dollie Banner

Post Date: 2023-03-16 15:54:27

Last Update: 2023-03-15 03:19:05