FUEGO: a satellite system for rapid location of wildfires.
The drones and planes will have mounted regular and infrared cameras. Woodrow Wang from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory explained how they work.
“We can connect these [boxes] and have them work together. These are pretty fascinating in that this small little thing, and it’s just really a credit card size… is a single board computer,” Wang said.
That data is then stored and could be accessible to those on the ground.
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have come up with the system that’s not yet put into use. The system is called “FUEGO.”
“It’s of course Spanish for fire, but also it means Fire Urgency Estimator on Geosynchronous Orbit,” Carl Pennypacker from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said.
These drones would be used at night when fire crews are at a disadvantage.
“We have a much better estimate of how big the fire is from infrared,” Pennypacker said. “We think we can get to a fire significantly before [it quickly spreads].”
This would prevent the fires from getting out of control and threatening lives and houses. If funding comes through, the system could be up and running in five years.