BRANTLEY COUNTY, Ga. — As ground crews continue their grueling battle against the Brantley County wildfire, a specialized team of U.S. Forestry firefighters is taking to the skies to hunt an invisible enemy.
Armed with a high-tech drone equipped with infrared sensors, the four-person aerial team is pinpointing hotspots that are invisible to the naked eye but pose a significant threat to local residences.
“Even when we’re not seeing flare-ups, we know that the heat is going deep into these organic soils,” said Karen Miranda, Public Information Officer for the Southern Area Complex Incident Management Team.
According to officials, the fire often retreats below the surface, smoldering in the nutrient-rich ground long after the visible flames have been suppressed. The infrared detector serves as a thermal eye, slicing through the smoke and soil to identify these subterranean threats.
The impact of the technology was felt immediately this week. On Thursday alone, the drone detected over 40 distinct hotspots. Because of those precise coordinates, ground crews were able to move in and successfully extinguish the areas before they could resurface and spread.
Historically, infrared data required large aircraft and overnight flights to process. Now, the shift to handheld drone technology has changed the tactical landscape for incident commanders.
“It’s an extremely valuable tool for us to identify hotspots on a fire this size,” Miranda said.
“We’ve usually used it overnight with big planes pulling the data. Now with infrared available on handheld drones, it’s very helpful to be able to work from the air.”
In the early stages of the fire, the team flew the drone primarily during the dawn hours, the coolest part of the day, to ensure the highest contrast for heat mapping. However, as the fire has reached higher levels of containment, the team has shifted focus. They are now using the drone more frequently throughout the day to specifically target trouble areas located near residential homes.
Fire officials confirmed that the drone team will remain on-site, providing critical intelligence to ground crews until the wildfire is fully declared out.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
