New System will Inform Drone Pilots on Wildfires

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The first US national system intended to prevent hobby drones from interfering with planes and helicopters fighting wildfires has launched.

Privately flown drones pose serious risks to firefighting planes and helicopters because these support aircraft fly low and slow, in smoke-obstructed areas.  When drones enter air space over or near wildland fires, they force managers to either delay or cease aerial suppression operations, impeding efforts to control and contain these destructive blazes and placing firefighters and the communities they protect in greater danger.  Wildfires can grow larger and more destructive during these delays.

To address this growing problem, the U.S. Department of the Interior and industry partners activated a prototype warning system that provides real-time alerts and geofencing alarms to prevent drone pilots from interfering with firefighting operations.

“This pilot project makes initial wildfire location data publicly available to commercial mapping providers that support UAS operations, alerting drone pilots before they enter air space over an active wildland fire,” said Mark Bathrick, the director of Interior’s Office of Aviation Services.

The Department of the Interior developed the system with DJI, the largest manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles in the United States, and AirMap and Skyward, leading providers of airspace intelligence and navigational services to unmanned aircraft.

AirMap and Skyward now obtain wildfire information directly from Interior’s Integrated Reporting Wildland-Fire Information (IRWIN) program, and immediately transmit it to drone pilots through AirMap’s iOS and web apps, AirMap’s API, and the GEO geofencing system included in the DJI GO flight control app.

Interior, working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Forest Service, adopted a three prong-approach to the issue—to enhance public awareness, establish notification protocols, and enforce penalties when violations occur.  

“Now, thanks to the wildland fire reporting data provided by Interior and with great partners like AirMap, Skyward and DJI who volunteered to prototype this program for us, we can make information available to drone operators in near real-time,” said Bathrick.

The warning system is similar to current efforts that map drone-sensitive locations (e.g. prisons, nuclear power plants, etc.). Drone manufacturers now have the ability to automatically ‘geo-fence’ wildfire areas from entrance by the unmanned aircraft system they build and sell.  Experience and data obtained from this year’s prototype will be used to inform a full public and industry release planned for the 2017 fire season. In the future, the system will have the capability to prevent drones from operating in restricted airspace once they reach a geofence perimeter.