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Emergency Response / Disaster
relief Emergency
response is an important role for hybrid air vehicle because often the
problem is to move staff and supplies the last 50 or 100 miles. There
are many types of emergency response, but Canada is faced every year
with the need to respond to one particular kind: forest fires. Rather
than describe all forms of emergency response, forest fires are used as
a template to describe this market.
In recent history, fires are becoming more frequent and more severe. This
is due to climate change and the impact that is having on the dryness of
the forest. When fires do occur in areas that are more populated, they
have a greater impact. This issue has been further compounded by the
�Smokey the Bear� phenomenon. This very successful campaign to report
fires has lead to a build up of fuel on the forest floor because of the
fire suppression policy of extinguishing all fires. However, fires are
part of the natural ecosystem and low intensity fires are actually
helpful in reducing the risks of fires, especially in proximity of
communities and industrial locations.
There are four main activity areas associated with fire management.
� Detection
� Aggressive attack
� Mop-up
� Fire Intelligence and communications
Fire Detection
Current practice is to detect
fires using fixed position lookout towers, and aircraft patrols,
(smaller aircraft flying over areas where wild land fires are likely due
to lightning and or man causes). Current practice requires tower
infrastructure, seasonal staff and costly aircraft. This practice has
severe limitations such as;
� blind areas (valleys etc) not visible from a fixed
tower
� period of observation, aircraft do not monitor
forested areas over a period of time as they see the area and continue
on the flight
The limitations in the ability to detect fires using these methods
results in fewer fires being detected. It is estimated that only15-25%
of all fires are detected using conventional means. Wild land fires are
often detected by people who report the fire using the Fire Reporting
1-800 Phone numbers each agency typically establishes. This approach is
often �hit or miss�. Failure to detect fires in a timely manner often
results in fires becoming larger. Consequently, they consume more
forested area, threaten more property and infrastructure and as a
result, increase the risk to human life, and increase the cost to
extinguish.
Aggressive Attack
Initial attack involves the
movement of personnel, equipment and fire suppressant/retardant to a
detected wild land fire site. This must be done as quickly after
detection as possible to minimize the fire size. The current practice
involves determining what resources, in terms of personnel and
equipment, need to be dispatched to the fire location. These decisions
are based upon an analysis of potential fire behavior. Fires that will
spread quickly due to forest fuel dryness, terrain, wind and
temperatures require a quicker response than those, which are burning in
wet or cooler conditions. Resources are transported by road where
possible, but more often by helicopters appropriate to the load size
being moved. Often, fire suppressant/retardant is delivered to strategic
locations on the fire line by fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and/or
combinations of these platforms.
Having the right resources in the right location as quickly as possible
reduces the potential of rapid fire spread thus enabling the crews to
have maximum effect when extinguishing the fire. Typically 95% of wild
land fires are contained in the first burning period using the above
practices. Fires that are not contained in the first period may become
very costly to manage in terms of their impact life, property, values
and dollars. It is not uncommon to have fires cost several hundreds of
thousands of dollars or more to extinguish.
Mop Up
Mop-up activities are directed
at fire cooling and extinguishment by delivering large volumes of water
to support the ground crew actions. As part of this activity, fire crews
usually require large volumes of water to assist in the complete
extinguishment of the fire. On occasion water is available on site, from
lakes and or streams to perform this task but frequently it is not.
Large fixed wing air tankers and helicopters are then employed to
support mop up efforts. While there may be little choice, helicopters
and fixed wing air tankers have very high costs per unit of load and as
a function of load size limitation may require many trips to complete
the work. Some of the issues that effect mop-up operations using air
drops include:
� Currently the delivery of water is by skimmer
aircraft or helicopter and may well cost several dollars per litre
delivered.
� Limitations on the availability of air tanker
aircraft and or larger helicopters often precludes the use of these
tools when the aircraft are committed to other fires and or other
industries
� The result is often an increase in the size and
damage done by the wildfire and the increased threat to life and
property
Fire Intelligence and Communications
Currently fire mapping is
provided by fixed wing aircraft carrying cameras with regular and infra
red capabilities. These images are taken over the fire site and
transported back to a base where they are processed and transformed into
maps for the ground fire managers. This process does not afford fire
managers overseeing large areas fire behavior and activity intelligence.
Information is not real time and delays in delivery of good fire maps
are the norm, it is also very costly.
High level airships have the potential to provide fire intelligence on
demand, real time mapping and photos on an ongoing basis.
Fire line communications are comprised of a variety of systems, fm radios
which may require installation of local repeaters to be effective,
cellular phones, and radio and satellite telephones. All of these
systems are expensive to maintain and operate.
Summary of Potential Benefits of Hybrid For Fire Suppression
Hybrids air vehicle could
fundamentally change the way large project fires are fought and managed.
Canada spends over $1 billion annually fighting an average of 7,600
fires. Fires burn 2.8 million hectares of forestland, wildlife habitat
and human communities. Hybrid air vehicle have the potential to reduce
the costs of fire servicing and control as they:
� Hybrid air vehicle have the ability to carry large
payloads
large volumes of
suppressant and or retardant
large numbers of men
and equipment
� Hybrid air vehicle can hover thus permitting:
Delivery of fire
suppressant from precise locations, and deliver same to precise
locations
Deliver heavy equipment
and ground support resources to precise locations without the benefit of
roads or helipads
� Hybrid air vehicle can operate independent of ground
base infrastructure and have long operating endurance
� Hybrid air vehicle have relatively low capital and
operating costs. The buoyancy created by the lifting gas mean that the
aircraft does not have to incur the fuel costs of remaining airborne
either by maintaining airspeed in the case of fixed wing, or rotor speed
in the case of helicopters. This resulting in a significant saving in
both capital and operating costs and makes hybrid air vehicle very
efficient to operate.
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