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Drones That Launch Flaming Balls Are Being Tested To Help Fight Wildfires

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep with yet another use for drones. You already know they're used for surveillance and taking video. Now researchers want to use them to fight fires. Here's Ariana Brocious of NET News in Nebraska.

ARIANA BROCIOUS, BYLINE 1: It's a warm, sunny morning at the Homestead National Monument of America in southeastern Nebraska. A burn crew dressed in yellow and green flame-resistant clothing is about to set a patch of tallgrass prairie on fire on purpose.

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: Alright, yep. And once he...

BROCIOUS: These kinds of burns aren't unusual, but today's is because a team from the University of Nebraska is testing a fire-starting drone. First, firefighters light the edge of the prairie using big gas cans called drip torches. As the waist-high flames start to turn the grass black, computer science professor Sebastian Elbaum gets the drone ready to launch.

SEBASTIAN ELBAUM: Once they build this horseshoe shape of black area, then we're going to have our drones fly across this field and drop some of these balls that will ignite into a flame.

BROCIOUS: The drone is about the size of a kid's helmet, with horizontal propellers 2 on all sides. A clear tube extends from the top, into which Elbaum is loading pink and white Ping-Pong balls. Then, standing 3 on the side of the field, the team sends the drone up and over the flames into the unburned area. Once it's airborne, the team directs the drone to inject the balls with glycol just before dropping them one by one to the ground. The glycol mixes with a powder, igniting into flames and burning the grass. Casey McCoy with the Nebraska Forest Service says even small, controlled fires like this one can quickly turn deadly.

CASEY MCCOY: We've had a fairly challenging track record here in Nebraska. In the last five or six years, we've had a number of fatalities 4 associated with prescribed fires.

BROCIOUS: Federal land agencies fight massive wildfires every year. They use fire as a tool to help keep active wildfires from spreading. Often, they light those fires from the air, dropping those same Ping-Pong balls from helicopters. Brad Koeckeritz says those flights can be risky 5. He heads the Unmanned Aircraft Systems division at the U.S. Department of Interior.

BRAD KOECKERITZ: The nature of the mission is very dangerous because the helicopter's very low speed, very close to the ground. And if anything goes wrong, there's very limited options for the pilot to put the aircraft down safely.

BROCIOUS: In fact, 41 wildland firefighters died in airplane or helicopter crashes in the last decade. Koeckeritz says aerial firefighting is both dangerous and expensive.

KOECKERITZ: Anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 a day to have the aircraft on site - and then for each hour you fly it, you're somewhere around that $2,000 to $3,000 mark.

BROCIOUS: Federal agencies are already using drones for video mapping and reconnaissance. But Koeckeritz says employing them like this could eventually be a cheaper way to start fires and keep firefighters safer.

As the smoke clears from the now-charred prairie, Sebastian Elbaum surveys the site and says his team will use what they learned here today to make this technology even better. There are questions about how the drone might work under certain circumstances or the skills needed to fly it. Elbaum says they eventually want it to become just another piece of the firefighting toolkit.

ELBAUM: Today, the firefighters have, you know, maybe a shovel 6, gloves, their helmets. But you can imagine them having this on their backpack, pulling it out when they get to the field and telling the vehicle, hey, go scout 7 out there. Check whether it's hot. Check whether it's safe. Start an ignition over there.

BROCIOUS: A high-tech 8 drone like that would not only be able to help control fires but could also save lives. For NPR News, I'm Ariana Brocious.