Protecting Forests with Fire-Shield

Imagine the emergency services tackling a horrendous wildfire or a catastrophic flood. If, in this picture, you see a fierce, yellow-vested firefighter holding a hose trying to control the flames or a brave lifeguard on a boat trying to rescue people – you are not alone.

Our perception of how to address these natural phenomena has mostly stayed the same in the past decades, contrary to almost every other field of our lives in which technology leaped forward and took a considerable role in confronting these disasters. It seems that in this field, in complete contrast to its importance and effect on our lives, leveraging technological hedges has been neglected.

Even though technological features have been introduced to detection systems and emergency services (ground and aerial), the great leap forward that combines all these features into one oiled machine is yet to come.

Igniting Innovation in Wildfire Defense

Elbit, an experienced aerial firefighting operator, UAV manufacturer, and C4I system developer, combined its domain expertise to create Fire-Shield, a unique and cutting-edge solution. Its primary focus is establishing extensive integrated coverage for various detection levels, alerting, and responding to potential large-scale natural phenomena.

Eran, the head of Elbit Systems’ firefighting squadron, emphasizes, “There is a well-known phrase among firefighters, saying you can extinguish any fire with just a single cup of water; it’s all about how early you catch it.” According to him, the initial layer of the Fire-Shield system, which handles monitoring and detection, serves as its core.

“In the case of wildfire,” says Eran as an example, “The system gathers data from multiple smoke and fire detectors in high-risk areas. When it detects smoke or a sign of fire, a ground-based or aerial sensor (like a drone or UAV) is assigned to inspect the area of interest. A drone is equipped with an advanced thermal camera, and its flight path is guided by a specialized algorithm created by Elbit Systems’ aerospace division”. 

According to Eran, the next level of scanning expansive and highly flammable terrains involves using heavy UAVs like the Hermes™ StarLiner, Hermes 450/650, Skylark™, and others. He explains that these aerial platforms, capable of soaring to substantial heights, offer a unique advantage by providing visibility to nearly every global point.

“The Fire-Shield system determines when a UAV is necessary and includes it as part of its multi-layered coverage,” states the firefighting squadron’s director. “In these situations, we aim to ensure a clear view of all relevant aspects of the fire. The higher we ascend, the better we can control the hazard.” Thanks to this solution, the whole process of detection and action can now be done automatically and autonomously. 

Looking ahead, he envisions that satellite technology will eventually play a crucial role and could serve as the highest fire detection and alert platform. “Today, the technology may not be optimal and cost-effective, but as satellites become more affordable and easier to launch and operate, we can certainly benefit from them monitoring areas of interest and collecting critical data,” he concludes.

“At this point, after multi-layer detection of the fire, we have to make a critical decision,” explains Eran. “It is our responsibility to respond swiftly to prevent unwanted emergencies, but at the same time, we must prioritize the crew resources and disregard false alarms.”

This is precisely where Fire-Shield leverages Elbit’s decades of dominance in developing and manufacturing C4I systems for military use. The system generates recommendations to the controller, using intelligent AI recommendations and organization of the collected information. “The invaluable recommendations provided by the Fire-Shield system to the operations room are of utmost importance,” Says Eran.

Eliminating Fires Without Endangering Flight Crews

Unfortunately, even early warning is not enough in some cases, as fire in dense forest areas might increase exponentially. Ground and aerial firefighters are required to work as a team, as well as other emergency services in charge of population evacuation and protection of strategic assets. 

To solve challenges and manage these complex situations most efficiently, Fire-Shield provides all forces with an accurate COP (Common Operational Picture) that gives them intuitive and easy-to-use tools to work as one unit.

Eran describes the scenario: “Like we have seen this summer in Europe, Canada, and the United States when a fire becomes too large, no human action can halt it. We can attempt to minimize its devastating effects by applying fire retardant material from the air in combination with traditional ground-based firefighting efforts. Add to this the need to safely evacuate the population, and you understand why such an operation must be done in full cooperation between all teams.” 

“The world’s climate is getting crazier by the day, and we at Elbit Systems have a lot of technologies that can help emergency services cope with the consequences of it; we just had to combine them into one integrated concept,” Eran says to summarize.