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Predator Drone Now Part Of Calif. Wildfire Battle
Night Stalker
Member Posts: 11,967
A rare positive report on the use of a Predator platform.
For some reason, I see this becoming the "sliver of truth" in the inevitable anti-USGOV conspiracy documenting the use of the Pred over US soil..... and the wildfire being deliberately set by the government to provide "cover for action."
NS
________________________________________________________________
Yahoo.com
August 29, 2013
Predator Drone Now Part Of Calif. Wildfire Battle
By Brian Skoloff and Tracie Cone, Associated Press
GROVELAND, Calif. ' As crews made significant progress building containment
lines around a giant wildfire in and around Yosemite National Park,
officials said they would maintain use of a National Guard Predator drone to
give them early views of any new flare-ups across in the remote and rugged
landscape.
The Rim Fire expanded to 301 square miles, but crews had a productive day
Wednesday and containment increased to 30 percent. Cooler temperatures and
lighter winds aided the firefighters.
Increasingly confident fire officials said they expect to fully surround the
blaze in three weeks, although it will burn for much longer than that.
"We continue to get line around this fire," California fire spokesman Daniel
Berlant said. "It's not nearly as active as it was last week."
The MQ-1 unmanned aircraft deployed Wednesday was being remotely piloted
hundreds of miles away, allowing ground commanders to keep an eye out for
new fires they otherwise wouldn't have immediately seen.
"The drone is providing data directly back to the incident commander,
allowing him to make quick decisions about which resources to deploy and
where," Berlant said.
Previously, officials relied on helicopters that needed to refuel every two
hours.
While unmanned aircraft have mapped past fires, use of the Predator will be
the longest sustained mission by a drone in California to broadcast
information to firefighters in real time.
The plane, the size of a small Cessna, will remain over the burn zone for up
to 22 hours at a time, allowing fire commanders to monitor fire activity,
determine the fire's direction of movement, the extent of containment and
confirm new fires ignited by lightning or flying embers.
The drone is being flown by the 163rd Wing of the California National Guard
at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside and is operating from Victorville
Airport, both in Southern California. It generally flew over unpopulated
areas on its 300-mile flight to the Rim Fire. Outside the fire area, it will
be escorted by a manned aircraft.
Officials were careful to point out the images are being used only to aid in
the effort to contain the fire.
In 2009 a NASA Predator equipped with an infrared imaging sensor helped the
U.S. Forest Service assess damage from a fire in Angeles National Forest. In
2008, a drone capable of detecting hot spots helped firefighters assess
movement of a series of wildfires stretching from Southern California's Lake
Arrowhead to San Diego.
The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and quickly exploded in size, becoming one of
the 10 largest California wildfires on record. Its progression slowed
earlier this week when it moved from parts of the forest with thick
underbrush that had not burned in nearly a century to areas that had seen
fire in the past two decades.
But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends
this fall.
"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a
regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
That means the smoke could continue to foul air north of Yosemite in the
Lake Tahoe basin and neighboring Nevada, although residents received
something of a reprieve Wednesday when for the first time in three days blue
sky was sometimes visible through the haze.
The air quality index in the Reno area still had improved only to the
"unhealthy" level, and in Douglas County, Nev., school children were kept
indoors again when the index registered in the "hazardous" category.
The air was clear, however, in the tourist mecca of Yosemite Valley, home to
the towering Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and the 2,425-foot
plunge of Yosemite Falls.
The Rim Fire has destroyed 111 structures, including 11 homes, and posed a
threat to ancient giant sequoias.
The fire also has threatened San Francisco's water supply at the Hetch
Hetchy Reservoir, but Stratton said it was burning itself out as it
approached and that crews were lighting back burns to push it back into the
wilderness.
Associated Press writer Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., contributed to this
report.
For some reason, I see this becoming the "sliver of truth" in the inevitable anti-USGOV conspiracy documenting the use of the Pred over US soil..... and the wildfire being deliberately set by the government to provide "cover for action."
NS
________________________________________________________________
Yahoo.com
August 29, 2013
Predator Drone Now Part Of Calif. Wildfire Battle
By Brian Skoloff and Tracie Cone, Associated Press
GROVELAND, Calif. ' As crews made significant progress building containment
lines around a giant wildfire in and around Yosemite National Park,
officials said they would maintain use of a National Guard Predator drone to
give them early views of any new flare-ups across in the remote and rugged
landscape.
The Rim Fire expanded to 301 square miles, but crews had a productive day
Wednesday and containment increased to 30 percent. Cooler temperatures and
lighter winds aided the firefighters.
Increasingly confident fire officials said they expect to fully surround the
blaze in three weeks, although it will burn for much longer than that.
"We continue to get line around this fire," California fire spokesman Daniel
Berlant said. "It's not nearly as active as it was last week."
The MQ-1 unmanned aircraft deployed Wednesday was being remotely piloted
hundreds of miles away, allowing ground commanders to keep an eye out for
new fires they otherwise wouldn't have immediately seen.
"The drone is providing data directly back to the incident commander,
allowing him to make quick decisions about which resources to deploy and
where," Berlant said.
Previously, officials relied on helicopters that needed to refuel every two
hours.
While unmanned aircraft have mapped past fires, use of the Predator will be
the longest sustained mission by a drone in California to broadcast
information to firefighters in real time.
The plane, the size of a small Cessna, will remain over the burn zone for up
to 22 hours at a time, allowing fire commanders to monitor fire activity,
determine the fire's direction of movement, the extent of containment and
confirm new fires ignited by lightning or flying embers.
The drone is being flown by the 163rd Wing of the California National Guard
at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside and is operating from Victorville
Airport, both in Southern California. It generally flew over unpopulated
areas on its 300-mile flight to the Rim Fire. Outside the fire area, it will
be escorted by a manned aircraft.
Officials were careful to point out the images are being used only to aid in
the effort to contain the fire.
In 2009 a NASA Predator equipped with an infrared imaging sensor helped the
U.S. Forest Service assess damage from a fire in Angeles National Forest. In
2008, a drone capable of detecting hot spots helped firefighters assess
movement of a series of wildfires stretching from Southern California's Lake
Arrowhead to San Diego.
The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and quickly exploded in size, becoming one of
the 10 largest California wildfires on record. Its progression slowed
earlier this week when it moved from parts of the forest with thick
underbrush that had not burned in nearly a century to areas that had seen
fire in the past two decades.
But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends
this fall.
"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a
regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
That means the smoke could continue to foul air north of Yosemite in the
Lake Tahoe basin and neighboring Nevada, although residents received
something of a reprieve Wednesday when for the first time in three days blue
sky was sometimes visible through the haze.
The air quality index in the Reno area still had improved only to the
"unhealthy" level, and in Douglas County, Nev., school children were kept
indoors again when the index registered in the "hazardous" category.
The air was clear, however, in the tourist mecca of Yosemite Valley, home to
the towering Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and the 2,425-foot
plunge of Yosemite Falls.
The Rim Fire has destroyed 111 structures, including 11 homes, and posed a
threat to ancient giant sequoias.
The fire also has threatened San Francisco's water supply at the Hetch
Hetchy Reservoir, but Stratton said it was burning itself out as it
approached and that crews were lighting back burns to push it back into the
wilderness.
Associated Press writer Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., contributed to this
report.
Comments
We have a billion $ satellite system just for that- FIRES
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/current.php
I have seen one myself, flying very low.
are they getting water from the Atlantic so as not to irradiate the countryside of Calif.?
Drone sales for the masses-[;)][:D]
We have a billion $ satellite system just for that- FIRES
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/current.php
...
There are no satellites dedicated to Fires. There are a number of Earth Sciences and Weather satellites from which information can be requested.
http://aqua.nasa.gov/
http://terra.nasa.gov/
http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://edc2.usgs.gov/1KM/1kmhomepage.php
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/