MISSOULA, MONTANA (RFD News) — The U.S. Forest Service is using new technology to better understand how fuel breaks perform in real-world conditions.
At the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, research engineer Dan Jimenez has been gaining international recognition for these advancements.
“The goal of my work is to really look at the fire environment from an energy perspective,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez says the lab allows researchers to test fire behavior in a controlled setting, using tools like a wind tunnel and burn chambers.
His team then takes that research into the field, using drones and infrared cameras to track fire behavior on a larger scale.
The team has also developed fire behavior packages equipped with data loggers and battery systems to collect information during burns.
Jimenez says combining controlled testing with aerial data helps give a more complete picture of how fire breaks perform across different landscapes.
Drones can survey up to 100 acres per hour in forest environments, and the Forest Service says that data can be processed into usable information within about six hours.
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