This is a time lapse of the 23-acre prescribed fire that was partially ignited by an unmanned aircraft system, or drone, April 22 at Homestead National Monument in southeast Nebraska. During the test, firefighters with drip torches lit the perimeter, while the drone ignited the interior.
Here are some additional video reports about the test of the Unmanned Aircraft System, or drone, that was used April 22 to assist with ignition of a prescribed fire in Homestead National Monument in southeast Nebraska.
The use of an unmanned aerial system, or drone, to ignite a portion of the prescribed fire at Homestead National Monument west of Beatrice, Nebraska appeared to be successful, according to the participants we talked with at the completion of the project. After the perimeter was ignited by hand using drip torches, the drone launched to the interior and dropped plastic spheres which burst into flame about a minute after landing on the ground. The spheres are similar to the ones dropped by helicopters for aerial ignition on large wildfires and prescribed fires. This project was 26 acres of grass that had received heavy rain which ended about 30 hours earlier. The ground was wet but the thatch was mostly dry and greenup had started. The temperature was in the high 60s and the relative humidity was around 40 percent. The wind was light, a few miles an hour.
The drone only holds 13 spheres, compared to the hundreds or more that fit into the hopper of a full size machine carried by a piloted helicopter. The drone made around half a dozen or so sorties, returning to the launch spot each time to reload. It followed a predetermined pattern each time, flying to its assignment, dropping the spheres in a line, then returning.
After the first sortie it returned with its full load of spheres. A radio communication problem prevented the deployment of the devices. After this was worked out it went fairly smoothly. At several points, however, the hand igniters had to wait for the drone to launch and light its assigned locations before the firefighters could continue working their way around the perimeter.
Most likely these bugs can be worked out.
A drone is launched to ignite a portion of a prescribed fire at Homestead National Monument.Staff from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln introduce unmanned aerial systems, or drones, that were used to ignite a portion of a prescribed fire at Homestead National Monument.
Below is a video report about the project. It includes images from the burn plus interviews with five key members of the team that helped make it happen.
Firefighters in Minnesota say the video provided by a drone gave them critical information and situational awareness at a propane fire near Callaway on March 24. The 200-person town was evacuated when a propane tanker truck collided with a freight train, causing a major derailment and fire.
Propane fires can be extremely dangerous. A BLEVE — Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion — can kill anyone nearby.
…Piloted by a Perham firefighter, the drone flew over the scene of a derailment and propane tanker truck fire last week, giving firefighters a critical bird’s-eye view of the dangerous situation, said Callaway Fire Chief Keith Heinlein, who was in charge at the scene.
“My decisions are only as good as the information I have,” he said.
Information from the drone was invaluable, letting firefighters see “what was burning and where,” including areas that were blocked from view because of overturned grain cars, he said.
Emergency responders watched the live video feed from the drone on a screen inside their on-site command center.
Heinlein said they were joined in “the war room” by Cenex Harvest State Propane professionals who, thanks to the drone video, could see the propane tanker burning, including close-ups of valves and other parts, “and tell us exactly what was happening,” he said.
The propane tanker truck burned for about 10 hours, all the while being cooled by a steady stream of water shot by firefighters, before the liquid propane had burned off and was replaced by more volatile propane gas, Heinlein said.
The propane fire got too hot at one point and the tanker vented, causing a visible flare-up before firefighters cooled it down again, Heinlein said.
Later it heated up again in spite of firefighter efforts to keep it cooled down. “We got behind it,” couldn’t keep it cool enough, and it exploded, Heinlein said…
Homestead National Monument expects to ignite a prescribed fire using an unmanned aerial system, or drone.
Above: University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers Dirac Twidwell, left, Sebastian Elbaum, and Carrick Detweiler with their unmanned aerial system for supporting prescribed burns. Elbaum and Detweiler are professor and assistant professor of computer science and engineering, respectively. Twidwell is an assistant professor and rangeland ecologist in UNL’s School of Natural Resources. Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communications.
The prescribed fire at Homestead National Monument four miles west of Beatrice, Nebraska will include a live test of a University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS). The UNL system is a greatly scaled down version of a manned helicopter aerial ignition device. A multidisciplinary team of UNL experts in micro-UAS technology, fire ecology, conservation and public policy is developing this unmanned aerial system for supporting prescribed and wildland fire operations. We first wrote about their fire-igniting drone at Fire Aviation in October, 2015.
The park has received all of the approvals necessary to use the drone on this project, including the NPS Regional Office, their Washington office, and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Jim Traub, National Park Service (NPS) Unmanned Aircraft System Specialist, said:
UAS’s in firefighting have the potential to reduce direct risk to firefighters doing ignition work while reducing costs and making an aerial resource more widely accessible to wildland firefighting efforts. The National Park Service is pleased to facilitate this unique and innovative opportunity with UNL, for this test of a sUAS in a fire situation.
Homestead National Monument of America, the NPS Midwest Region Fire and Aviation Program, and the NPS National Aviation Offices are collaborating with UNL’s Nebraska Intelligent Mobile Unmanned Systems (NIMBUS) Laboratory and the Department of Interior Office of Aviation Services (OAS) for this operational test and evaluation of the integration of sUAS into wildland fire operations. The goal with the Homestead Prescribed Fire is to conduct a live test of the sUAS consistent with the intent of 2015 UAS Technology Overview approved by then NPS Associate Director of Visitor Resource Protection, Cam Sholly; Department of Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary, Kim Thorsen; and Office of Aviation Services, Director Mark Bathrick.
Their system uses the same principle for the ignition source as the much larger devices used in full sized helicopters — plastic sphere dispensers. The spheres look like ping pong balls, but they are manufactured with a chemical inside. When the dispenser injects a second chemical into the ball it creates an exothermic reaction causing it to burst into flame about half a minute later after it has been ejected from the machine. When the helicopter, manned or unmanned, drops the spheres, they can ignite any receptive fuels on the ground about 25 to 40 seconds later.
Now that Homestead National Monument has all of the plans and approvals in hand, they are just waiting for a weather window that meets the criteria in their prescribed fire plan. They hope to get it done before May 15 of this year.
I asked the park Superintendent, Mark Engler, if he was worried that the drone might drop a sphere outside the prepared control lines:
No, I know we have to be alert that that could happen, but we have already put in a fireline, and we made it extra wide this time. We took an extra step and actually removed the cut grass [from the line after it was mowed]. We think the risk here is very low. And because the risk is so low, we feel that this is an appropriate place to conduct this test.
A control line for a prescribed fire at Homestead, spring, 2016. NPS photo.
The park has been using fire for years to help maintain and restore their tall grass prairie. They have identified a 26-acre unit for this particular project. Homestead first started using prescribed fire in the 1980s. Mr. Engler said they have the “oldest restored prairie in the National Park Service”.
The plans call for 15 people to be actively involved in the burn, plus the crew operating the unmanned aerial system.
