Wildland Fire

[Deleted member 98]

Just finished a wildland fire; approx. 10 ac. in a tough area. Apparatus, including UTVs couldn’t access. I arrived on scene within the first 15 minutes of call and began sizing up the scene for the IC. Had a few houses in danger and I monitored fire progress on them. Identified largest areas to focus on and upon first battery change, sent video back to IC.

Helo called in for water drops. Helo carries our freq and he already knew I was working the scene. He called in to IC and gave his ETA and requested drone be clear upon his arrival. I was already on the ground changing out another battery, and communicated with him directly, advising him I was on the ground. He acknowleged. No further flights until helo left the scene.

I belive our folks are beginning to see the usefulness of UAS. IC and Chief’s all thanked me.

 

[MapMaker53]

Nice work!

 

[JDSimpson]

Just finished a wildland fire; approx. 10 ac. in a tough area. Apparatus, including UTVs couldn’t access. I arrived on scene within the first 15 minutes of call and began sizing up the scene for the IC. Had a few houses in danger and I monitored fire progress on them. Identified largest areas to focus on and upon first battery change, sent video back to IC.

Helo called in for water drops. Helo carries our freq and he already knew I was working the scene. He called in to IC and gave his ETA and requested drone be clear upon his arrival. I was already on the ground changing out another battery, and communicated with him directly, advising him I was on the ground. He acknowleged. No further flights until helo left the scene.

I belive our folks are beginning to see the usefulness of UAS. IC and Chief’s all thanked me.

I have 3 fire departments near me and was wondering the best way to approach them for work? I have a M210RTK with a Datalink Pro GS, Z30 and X4S sensors. I am willing to buy a Thermal sensor but it would be nice to have a reason to spend the money. Any pointers you can give me is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 98]

I have 3 fire departments near me and was wondering the best way to approach them for work? I have a M210RTK with a Datalink Pro GS, Z30 and X4S sensors. I am willing to buy a Thermal sensor but it would be nice to have a reason to spend the money. Any pointers you can give me is much appreciated. Thanks.

I was a past Chief in the Dapartment and they knew me. I offered my service and after a few months they called and asked me for a meeting.....

 

[TreeLineView]

Just finished a wildland fire; approx. 10 ac. in a tough area. Apparatus, including UTVs couldn’t access. I arrived on scene within the first 15 minutes of call and began sizing up the scene for the IC. Had a few houses in danger and I monitored fire progress on them. Identified largest areas to focus on and upon first battery change, sent video back to IC.

Helo called in for water drops. Helo carries our freq and he already knew I was working the scene. He called in to IC and gave his ETA and requested drone be clear upon his arrival. I was already on the ground changing out another battery, and communicated with him directly, advising him I was on the ground. He acknowleged. No further flights until helo left the scene.

I belive our folks are beginning to see the usefulness of UAS. IC and Chief’s all thanked me.

How are you sharing the data with the IC? Some type of uplink? Was your flight deck at the IC center or at another location. I know there are some Enterprise level Suites out there for secure realtime data sharing but don't have that kind of CapX money right now.

Looking for ways to share live data stream onscreen at the IC and avoid someone interfering with PIC. I am using IOS device. I figure if I was able to use my generator at the scene I could probably create a small wifi network and share to other devices. How are others doing this.

This is not just for Emergency response, but I have several jobs coming up in March and Aprils where there will others on scene at large commissioning of Solar Farm and would like to provide them some realtime data when working with ground crew

 

[M8len]

How are you sharing the data with the IC? Some type of uplink? Was your flight deck at the IC center or at another location. I know there are some Enterprise level Suites out there for secure realtime data sharing but don't have that kind of CapX money right now.

Looking for ways to share live data stream onscreen at the IC and avoid someone interfering with PIC. I am using IOS device. I figure if I was able to use my generator at the scene I could probably create a small wifi network and share to other devices. How are others doing this.

This is not just for Emergency response, but I have several jobs coming up in March and Aprils where there will others on scene at large commissioning of Solar Farm and would like to provide them some realtime data when working with ground crew

We use a solution called Blue Link encoder. It is self contained and portable in one small case Pelican. It is one cost for the unit (not a monthly charge like with other systems). Since is uses a SIM card the only thing that you pay monthly is the price for the cell service. It has worked well. The only issue we have found is if cell service is poor it can have an effect on the streaming capabilities.

The other bonus is that it plugs in using the HDMI port so it can be used not only on UAS, but Robots, Video Cameras ETC. If I can find the flyer and post it.

 

[Deleted member 98]

We’re just beginning our operation. Been using live streaming thru FB. Noticed that ATT throttling has affected the ability in the field to live stream. Uploads over the past 8 months have dropped to 0.2-1 mbps. Paid the toll and uploads are up around 12 now. Still testing with my bird, but the agency bird is still using standard cellular plan. Will look to upgrade soon.

A fire scene is very fluid and things change quickly. Radio comms are a quick way to communicate quickly the location of the head and the direction of movement, as well as any threatened structures and access into the head.

On this fire the FB live streaming worked for me but the IC could not see it. In that situation I’ll turn on screen capture or rely on video to capture the scene, land, message him the video, or if close download to his device directly. This doesn’t take that long. Screen captures from Ipad can be sent while in the air. The one video from my first flight gave them all the info needed to formulate a plan of attack and containment. I flew about 4 missions and video before the helo was brought in. Flew one mission after dark after the helo departed. It was deemed a success.

We are looking into a apple puck and TV in the command ride. That will limit us to approx. 100ft from the command ride, and in this case it would have been fine. But on wildland fires, I move around on large ones and would not always be close enough to the command ride to stream. I am also concerned about costs and setup time for some of these other methods.

 

[PDX Drones]

Who were you working for? The Forest Service, BLM, a state agency? I ask because my understanding is the the Forest Service and the BLM have their own internal "small drone" programs where they are training their employees in-house to do what you describe.

If you were subcontracting for the feds, I'm wondering if you had to get a DUNS number and register to do business as subcontractor with the federal government?

 

[M8len]

I have not had good luck with the Facebook live or YouTube live. Not to mention for what I do I don't want the delay. This streaming solution normally has minimal delay and makes it possible for anyone at your command post to see what your seeing. Take a look and see what you think. Shoot them a email and maybe it is something that will work for you.

Because it is an encoder and the way it is set up you can be miles away from the command post and are not limited where you can be set up.

 

[Deleted member 98]

Who were you working for? The Forest Service, BLM, a state agency? I ask because my understanding is the the Forest Service and the BLM have their own internal "small drone" programs where they are training their employees in-house to do what you describe.

If you were subcontracting for the feds, I'm wondering if you had to get a DUNS number and register to do business as subcontractor with the federal government?

Local City FD.