Resource Stewardship Consortia Plans RFD for Wildfire fighting UAS



By Priya Potapragada and Brett Davis



The Resource Stewardship Consortia is putting out a request for demonstrations (RFD) to provide businesses, educational institutions and entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop UAS to assist the Oregon Department of Forestry in fighting nighttime wildfires and for providing fire reconnaissance. 



The RFD was released on 19 June and there has already been “a lot of energy from a number of companies that are interested in replying,” says Jon Stark, manager of Redmond Economic Development Inc., who is on the advisory committee working on the project, which is supported by AUVSI’s Cascade Chapter.



Contracting opportunities will be given on a “call when needed agreement,” for the 2015 fire season based on the UAS’ ability to improve existing nighttime reconnaissance, deployment of firefighting, safety standards and information. 



For consideration, interested vendors can attend a user-vendor conference in Redmond on 26 June, after which a final RFD will be sent to other parties on 30 June. Proposals will then be screened and invited to proceed if selected.



The test flight demonstrations, which will take place at an FAA Oregon test site of the vendor’s choosing, will require a certificate of authorization from the FAA, an independent safety review, risk assessment and flight-planning guide. The vendor will also need to provide an airworthiness certification and an operator manual.



Flights are expected to begin this summer. 



“We want data, we want to be able to learn what the fire is doing overnight,” says Stark, which would allow firefighters to begin deploying their forces at dawn, instead of waiting for more information.



“We can make those decisions at daybreak, so we gain hours of pressure on the fire by being able to deploy those resources at daybreak,” he says.

 

Based on the results, three vendors will be selected who will work directly with the Oregon Department of Forestry Aviation Management Team. 



The vendors will work on building the UAS with the capability of sustained flight for 12 hours and re-launch, identifying spot fires across the lines, mapping the fire perimeter, providing detailed images for morning fire briefings, and developing digital data with ArcGIS software, preferably with data transfer format ESRI file Geodatabase. 



Although final proposals aren’t due until 14 July, the team is asking interested companies to make their intention to participate known by 23 June to Glen Salo at gsalo@riversideresearch.org or David Foote at dfoote@concordspirit.com.



Vendors will be responsible for all costs, including evaluation and demonstrations.