Aerial Firefighting Research Articles

A Numerical Study Of Water Dump In Aerial Fire Fighting

In large forest fires over wide areas, aerial fire fighting with water dumping from helicopters and aircrafts has been widely employed in the world, but water dropped from helicopters is not always sufficient to control large fires, since the limited quantity of water that can be carried aloft is a critical issue and also, the duration of aerial fire fighting is necessarily limited to daytime operations. On the other hand, aircrafts can drop large amounts of water, but the aircrafts flying at high-speed and low altitudes are dangerous due to tall buildings, trees and electric power lines. Therefore, aircrafts tend to fly at high altitudes, where the dropping water spreads out as mists in the air. As a result, accurate engineering data on the water supply relative to given fires are critically needed to design the fire-fighting strategies. The objective of this study is to examine the optimum strategies to apply water by the aerial fire fighting. However, tests by real aircrafts to obtain such information would be too costly. Therefore, the patterns of water dumping from aircrafts as well as from helicopters were examined in a first-attempt CFD simulation, together with the investigation of the data in previous real aerial fire fighting tests. It has been found in the CFD simulations that the patterns of dropping water in the air and the corresponding water density on the ground give reasonable results compared to those from the real aerial tests.

La gestione degli incendi boschivi in Canton Ticino: tentativo di una sintesi storica | Forest fire management in Canton Ticino: attempting a historical overview

The Southern Alps, in particular the Canton Ticino, is the region of Switzerland that is most affected by the phenomenon of forest fires. Therefore, the cantonal authorities are continually confronted with problems of prevention, fire fighting and mitigation of the effects of forest fires. In this article forest fire management in Canton Ticino is analyzed in historical terms, verifying in particular the impact of the methods used and the improvement of technology addressing the frequency of events and the extent of burned surfaces. In this way it has been possible to show how a few structural measures (better organization of fire fighting crews and equipment, introduction of aerial fire fighting techniques, electrification followed by construction of shelters along railway lines, etc.) have rather reduced the extent of burned surfaces, while legislative measures such as restrictions of open fires help to reduce the number of forest fires.

Development of a Navigation/Situation Display to Improve Aerial Fire Fighting Safety and Efficiency

Aerial fire fighting is a high-risk, high-cost aviation environment. Normal aviation risks are magnified, sometimes significantly, by a number of factors. Over the years a number of accidents (mid-air collisions and controlled flight into terrain), near mid-air collisions, and other serious incidents involving fire fighting aircraft have occurred. The causes of these accidents or incidents have been primarily attributed to loss of situational awareness in the relatively unstructured aerial environment surrounding wildland fires. In an effort to improve safety and efficiency researchers at NASA Ames Research Center are working with aerial fire fighters to develop a standard phraseology, air space structure, and a navigation/situation display. This paper will focus on the results of an initial communication analysis, and will present a prototype airspace structure, and the preliminary design and evaluation of the navigation/situation display.

The Demand for Aviation Activities at General Aviation Airports: An Empirical Study

The Demand for Aviation Activities at General Aviation Airports: An Empirical Study