In recent years, wildfires have been on the rise in California and beyond, and some firefighters say the tools and technologies used to fight new fires have not kept pace with the effects of climate change.
“In many cases, we are still involved in sparks of sharp metal,” Bill Gabbert, who worked as a full-time firefighter for more than 30 years before becoming editor-in-chief of Industrial Publishing, told ABC News. “Craftsmen use hand tools, chains and chains to remove the fuel from the edge of the fire.
Some major technology jumps, including computer simulations, have been designed to help firefighters, but in many cases have blocked their adoption in communities where financial support and bureaucratic barriers may be needed. Meanwhile, some entrepreneurs see the vacancy as a mature opportunity for Westerners to fight some of the biggest fires in the world and eventually save new lives.
The Dixie, now raging in northern California, entered the state’s second-largest wildfire and burned 917,579 acres. As of Tuesday, they had 59%. To the south of this flame, the Calder fire is still raging, killing about 216,646 acres. The California Department of Forests and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, reported Tuesday’s 49%.
The average annual acreage of wildfires in the United States during the 1990’s was 3.3 million acres. A.D. According to a August report to Congress since 2000, that annual average has more than doubled to 7 million hectares. A.D. Wildfires burned 10.1 million hectares by 2020 – the second-largest acre in a year since record keeping began in 1960.
Here is a report on the growing crisis in drought-stricken California, where firefighters are using technology to fight fires and some experts still say.
Simulators, drones and remote cameras – what now
Cal Fire Chief John Hague told ABC News that in recent years, many fire agencies have explored emerging technologies to address firefighting issues. .
According to Hague, one of the results of this effort was the creation and adoption of a “truly, outstanding” college modeling service. .
“The software combines weather, topography, fuel and more,” he said.
Every time there is a fire in California, it starts pretending that field officials are getting that instant information from the minute it starts. “There will be more fires based on where the fire was reported. That fire may not be in the right place, so when the first engines arrive, they will report a more advanced location and then another report will be issued and that will be more accurate.”
The data is crucial for decision-making communities in the event of a fire, as well as for deciding how to best deal with a fire.
“It allows us to make better use of our resources and to be more efficient and effective in our choice of resources and where we use them,” he said. Not only that, but it also allows us to use our land and climate more effectively, recognizing that its values are endangered, populated, and indeed saved.
In recent years, the agency has adopted surveillance drones to better combat maps and fires, especially in remote areas where large aircraft are at risk. At Cal Fire, about 30 pilots are trained in aeronautics and 10 are trained in advanced communications. The planes use infrared technology and temperature sensors to help find hot spots, he said, especially in dense forest areas.
Hundreds of high-tech cameras have also been installed in remote, Western-hazardous areas, and a joint venture funded by ALERTWildfire, a trio of public and state-funded firefighters, has been set up. Some cameras are equipped with artificial intelligence technology to detect smoke, and even the public can catch fire from the group’s website.
These developments have updated the way agencies respond to fires, but Heji said firefighting technology is a place where more resources can be invested due to evolution.
“What we have seen over the last few years is a real change in the way fires have grown and all we have to do is take a global perspective, see that and change how we fight them and the integration of technology. It’s one way to do that. ” We are always looking for new and innovative ways to fight fires and can do anything quickly, efficiently and safely – this is our goal.
Implementation issues
Although many new technologies are available, some say they have been implemented in fire departments across the country and adoption is lagging behind.
“The technology used to control the spread of fire is less or less than it has been for 100 years,” United Nations Secretary-General for Security, Ethics and Ecology Timothy told The BBC News. Hand tools “still remain a means of catching fire.
Engelsby added, however, that it has invested millions of dollars in “many of the technologies that have truly enhanced our capacity for fire mapping and monitoring and modeling.”
He said the technology of tracking wildfires and models is like a technological renaissance. What we have a problem with is that all this investment in technology is for low use.
Engelsby, for its part, is responsible for the culture and loose organization of this agency, many of which are volunteered (volunteer firefighters play a major role in national firefighters, according to the National Fire Protection Association). He added that costs, limited manpower and “bureaucratic activity” would not hinder the widespread adoption of new technologies.
What really needs to be done is to put this technology into the hands of the local communities. I think it makes people feel more informed and less likely to panic.
The technology can be used to help “control wildfires,” and to change the way Inglesbe and people view fire. This will help transfer resources to vulnerable communities and better control wildfires.
We are still in the throes of such a wildfire, and we still see it as an enemy to attack, extinguish or extinguish a fire. ” And this technology really has the power to change our metaphors, so we see more of a fire to better protect communities and to manage ecosystems to maintain the ecological services we all rely on. On. “
“The technology exists, it has not been implemented,” Gabbert told ABC News about the adoption of technology.
He argued that mapping and surveillance technology could save lives, but “it was not widely distributed to people on the ground.”
While demand is improving, Gabbert blames this on the lack of funding, saying it has not significantly increased the budget for federal firefighters.
“As the fire spreads, we have to spend a lot of money to put them out,” he said.
For the creative department
Mike Ralston told ABC News that as a firefighter, he was inspired to come up with ways to fight effectively.
“There are many brave men and women in the fireplace who play many important roles, but the tools we use are basically the same tools that have been used for the last 50 or 100 years,” he told ABC News. Most of the other tools we use in our daily lives do not see the same level of development and creativity you see.
Finding Ways to Improve Ralston Tech
Ralston is now the Chief Operating Officer of Qwake, which is currently working on firefighting, especially new technology. His C-THRU device is designed to help firefighters communicate, transmit information, and ultimately save lives.
The device wears a helmet and features real-time technology and a temperature camera added to help visibility in smoke or dark conditions. The display also includes lines around the door frames and more for firefighters to assess their location in high-stress areas and to share this information with colleagues.
Ralston lamented market conditions that, as a former firefighter, do not encourage technology companies to innovate or invest in the public safety sector.
“There was no motivation for these companies to do that, and that always hit me the wrong way and that was one of the things that drove our company to say ‘what do you know’ instead of worrying about how many dollars they could worry about. We will do this, we will use this technology, which we know we can produce, to make a real impact, and we will be in the hands of firefighters to make a difference in the performance of firefighters. ”
According to Ralston, and in recent years fires have increased, attitudes have changed as agencies are forced to do more. Qwake Technologies recently received funding from the Department of Homeland Security to accelerate the development and production of C-THRU at the prototype level.
“We have arrived at the 9/11 monument, and we recognize that this is a 20-year journey in the realm of public safety,” he said. Now we really have to do a lot of small things, that’s what drives this change in industry – budgets are cut, we have things like global warming and structures that are being built closer to a wild island. Locations, fires are on the rise. “
“Technology has always been a tool of human endeavor,” he said.