Using GPS Tracking Devices as a Preventative Wildfires Fighting Tool
24 Jun 2014GPS tracking technology is being used to help cut back on the number of Arizona wildfires and put them out quickly once they begin.
The state of Arizona, like California, has a reputation of having to dealing with wildfires when the temperatures rise. The hot, dry, desert climate makes it susceptible to wildfires breaking out with almost no warning.
In the past, the best way to curb wildfires was to thin out local forests and cut down trees in areas that are prone to fires. However, this process has proved to be time consuming and expensive, which has caused efforts to move slowly and not be as beneficial as wildlife prevention experts in the area would have liked.
It is for this reason that led officials to use global positioning systems (GPS) technology as a preventative wildfire fighting tool. With GPS trackers, they will be able to clear out heavily wooded areas faster and more efficiently.
Pat Graham of the Nature Conservancy of Arizona is proposing to use GPS tracking and internal cameras to look at the thinning operations. If they can get the GPS trackers on wood cutters, the operators of these cutters are can get through the areas more quickly and help firefighters get to the frontline of the fires when they do break out.
Graham also hopes that within the next couple years, the wood cutters and the GPS technology will already know which trees have been cut, allowing them to get into the line of fire even faster.
The hope is that not only are they taking down trees fast in order to prevent the fire from spreading, but helping to protect their firefighters and do their job more efficiently.
According to the current estimates, a single GPS tracked operator could cut down 20 acres a day, which would be incredibly useful. The tracking devices would be on the wood cutters, which are sent in to the area first.
Not only are they trying to protect their land and residents, but firefighters as well. In 2011, there was a bad wilderness fire in Arizona that killed 19 firefighters. In Florida, two rangers lost their lives during an unexpected afternoon forest fire. These types of tragedies could be prevented with better tools and updated technology, like GPS tracking, to track wildfires and get them put out faster.
A lot of these tragedies occur because in heavily wooded areas and forests, it is difficult to find the right location of the blaze. If there was better tracking technology, the areas can be thinned and firefighters can do their job without struggling through the wilderness.
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