{"id":93229,"date":"2019-06-28T00:20:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T00:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/drones-used-for-aerial-ignition-on-doe-canyon-fire\/"},"modified":"2019-06-28T00:20:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T00:20:27","slug":"drones-used-for-aerial-ignition-on-doe-canyon-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/drones-used-for-aerial-ignition-on-doe-canyon-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Drones used for aerial ignition on Doe Canyon Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Brian
Brian Anderson and Kelly Boyd of the Unaweep Wildland Fire Module work on a drone used to aid firefighters at the Doe Canyon Fire. The two are certified unmanned aircraft system pilots with the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/span>Courtesy Andy Lyon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Drone technology is being used to manage the Doe Canyon Fire burning on the San Juan National Forest southeast of Dove Creek.<\/p>\n

Most of the fire is being allowed to burn naturally to reduce buildup of forest litter and understory within a 2,000-acre area surrounded by roads.<\/p>\n

Within the interior of the containment zone thick with downed timber and beetle-killed trees, a specialized drone is dropping pingpong balls filled with flammable liquid to ignite the forest floor, said public information officer Andy Lyon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that hazardous area, igniting fire with the drone is safer than sending in firefighters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The remote-controlled drone, also known as an unmanned aircraft system, is being operated by Unaweep Wildland Fire Module firefighters who have Federal Aviation Administration pilot certification.<\/p>\n

Lyons said the drone ignition was used Tuesday and is planned for Thursday if conditions warrant.<\/p>\n

The drone is equipped with real-time video and carries pingpong balls with a dry chemical powder in them. When the signal is given by the operator, a device injects glycol into the ball, and it falls to the forest floor. A delayed chemical reaction between the glycol and the powder causes the ball to slowly ignite.<\/p>\n

The drone carries 150 pingpong balls that can be released in a controlled manner. The method is less costly and safer than using helicopters.<\/p>\n

Cameras on the drones are also used for fire reconnaissance and can be equipped with infrared capabilities to check for spot fires.<\/p>\n

The Unaweep Willdand Fire Module is uniquely qualified for fire-specific UAS missions. They are in communication with fire managers and all other aviation assets in the fire area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a highly coordinated effort with all ground and aviation resources,\u201d a Unaweep press release said. \u201cUAS operations supply low-risk, cost-effective intelligence and scouting to firefighters on the ground, limiting risk exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

protects firefighters and is cost-effective<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5738,5740,5737,5736,5735,5741,5923,5756],"tags":[21,13,28,29,199,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-93229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cortez","category-frontpage-lead","category-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","category-newsletter","category-san-juan-national-forest","category-wildfire","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93229"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=93229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}