Russia Trains Specialists for “Smart” Wildfire Response
Sixty-five people have completed training in the Sakhalin Region.
In Russia’s Sakhalin Oblast, the national project Bespilotnye Aviatsionnye Sistemy (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) is being implemented. Last year, staff from the region’s Forestry and Hunting Agency ran training courses that prepared 65 people to fight wildfires using drones. Of those, 20 learned to operate unmanned aircraft systems with a maximum takeoff weight of 30 kilograms or less, the agency’s press service told IT-Russia.
During the fire season in Sakhalin, specialists deploy 26 unmanned aerial vehicles to verify reports of forest fires. When an alert comes in, responders head to the suspected site and survey the area with drones. When a fire is detected, teams closely inspect the risk zone to determine access routes and calculate the personnel and equipment needed to contain it.
Information about a wildfire’s location is transmitted from the drone to the control station in real time. UAVs can be flown up to 18.5 kilometers away from the operator.
Searching for Hidden Hotspots
During suppression efforts, drones are also used as mobile observation towers to identify natural boundaries, the locations of rivers and roads, and previously created mineral firebreaks. These data help firefighters decide how to deploy forces and equipment.
In addition, UAVs are used to detect hidden hotspots. In the past, specialists had to walk the area on foot. Today, quadcopters equipped with thermal imaging cameras handle this task.
Earlier, IT-Russia reported that a neural network for firefighters was developed in Russia. According to the Emercom of Russia, the smart chatbot analyzes photos and can identify a fire’s source and a preliminary cause.
