Agencies Work to Develop Integrated Wildland Fire Response

The Oklahoma National Guard, in partnership with Southwestern Oklahoma State University, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and Weatherford Fire Department, recently hosted a wildland firefighting unmanned aerial systems (UAS) integration exercise. This was held at Crowder Lake on September 25 and 26.

During the two-day exercise, the Oklahoma National Guard worked with state, local, and private agencies to develop an integrated fire response. This guarantees that safety teams know how to coordinate actions with other agencies when an incident occurs.

“We’re seeing more and more [unmanned aerial vehicles] in use,” noted Chad Kinder, vice president of Strategic Partnership at SWOSU. “The Weatherford Fire Department just added drones in the last year, so it’s a great thing for these agencies to get together and learn how to use these UAV in the same airspace at the same time.”

Agencies with UAS each shared their footage, location, and other data to an incident command post. There, commanders and staff viewed and coordinated aircraft operations within the airspace.

The exercise practiced several emergency procedures. One scenario, for example, involved a drone resupply to firefighters on the ground. The Oklahoma Guard reported that all missions were completed quickly and safely according to the common operating procedures.

“When we’re operating our unmanned aircraft and getting the picture of the fire or the incident that happened within the state, we can also make it safe for manned aircraft to come into the picture and do their water drops and search and rescue,” stated Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. Scott Patton. “We’re not inhibiting their [manned] operations by having a drone or a UAS up in the air, so we can mitigate those issues now and know what that’s going to look like so we can get our manned aircraft in without having an incident.”

Domestic operations missions, such as battling wildfires or assisting tornado-affected communities, typically require collaboration among multiple agencies. Training exercises are necessary to ensure efficient and effective partnerships.

FMI: www.ok.ng.mil