Wildland fires are extremely complex and present some of the most dangerous and devastating threats to lives and property in the United States (Wildland Fires, 2016 & Nix, 2016). It is estimated that 72,000 communities are at risk of being in danger from them (Wildland Fires, 2016). In 2015 alone, there were approximately 68,000 wildland fires that burned over 10 million acres and destroyed 4,636 structures (Wildland Fires, 2016). Wildland fires occur due to a "combination of drought, warmer temperatures, high winds and an excess of dried vegetation in forests and grasslands" (Wildland Fires, 2016).
How Wildland Fires Are Fought Today and The Risks
Traditional methods of fighting wildland fires depend upon ground personnel and manned helicopter and fixed wing aircraft that deploy specially trained firefighters, employ thermal imagery sensors and drop water or fire retardant from high above during daylight hours (Hinkley, Zajkowski, Ambrosia, & Schoenung, 2007 & Than, 2013). The first responders are called "smoke jumpers," and they parachute near the inferno to employ methods aimed at cutting the fires fuel supply, in order to 
contain it (Than, 2013). They jump into remote areas that would otherwise take days to access by hiking and are completely inaccessible by ground vehicles (Than, 2013). Airborne tankers are charged with deploying water or fire retardant in order to battle large fires while helicopters deal with smaller, spot fires. Both ground and airborne methods put firefighters and aircrews at risk. In 2013, 19 
firefighter lost their lives battling a blaze in Arizona (Than, 2013). In 2014, a 13-year veteran pilot was killed when his S-2T air tanker struck an object on the ground as he attempted to drop retardant on a mountain fire (FAA releases preliminary cause of S-2T crash, 2014). These are only a few examples of the extreme risks fighting wildland fires. More non-risky operations deal with the manned aircraft conducting fire surveillance during daylight hours (Than, 2013). As the military uses UASs for dull, dirty and dangerous missions, there is no wonder why such a platform could be used to assist with or take on a leading role for a dangerous mission such as wildland firefighting (Hinkley, Zajkowski, Ambrosia, & Schoenung, 2007).
UAS Application for Wildfire Fighting Operation
The use of drones in other applications has sparked an interest in using it for fire service, specifically wildland firefighting. However, there is a mixed reaction to UASs near wildland fires especially when they are not a part of the operation. While trying to document fires, certain hobbyists and photographers have created unnecessary risks (Templeton, 2015). The potential for mid-air collisions in this environment is very high since both UASs and manned aircraft are operating at lower altitudes (Templeton, 2015). Temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) are issued by the FAA and serve to prohibit UASs from operating in these areas; however, these TFRs go unnoticed and are routinely violated (Templeton, 2015). Drone use over the California Lake Fire in 2015 caused an entire fleet of fire retardant aircraft to be grounded by Cal Fire (Templeton, 2015). In 2015 alone, there were eight other separate incidents involving UAS operating inside TFRs created for wildfires (Templeton, 2015). Enforcing the TFR for wildland fire fighting operations is a serious challenge and represents how UAS, if used incorrectly, can be extremely dangerous to other fire fighting aircraft. So what if UASs are used to "provide the right information to the right people at the right time" (Hinkley, Zajkowski, Ambrosia, & Schoenung, 2007).
There are certain benefits to using a UAS for wildland firefighting efforts, even different sizes of UAS with different capabilities. These capabilities rival current manned methods or present new ways of executing wildland fire fighting operations. The ability to provide a 24/7 situational awareness picture is invaluable to incident commanders and their efforts to prepare maps and contingency plans to combat wildland fires (Werner, 2015). The Forest Service is interested in employing UAS for wildfire mapping missions that are currently underserved or where manned aircraft are not practical due to mission duration or missions where personnel could be put at high risk (Hinkley, Zajkowski, Ambrosia, & Schoenung, 2007). In addition, a UAS could rescue wildland fighters in danger, note hotspots for quicker action, observe fires at night (which currently is not being done), assess the effect of the wind on fire line changes, and deliver fire retardant or water where needed to extinguish the wildland fire (Than, 2013 & Werner, 2015). These are just a handful of benefits that UAS can provide to fire services in general but are exclusive to wildland firefighting.
Both small and larger UASs could be used for wildland firefighting, each with its own capabilities and benefits to the overall goal of extinguishing wildland fires and ultimately, preventing undue harm to life or property. "The commercializationf unmanned aerial aircraft is leading to innovative, off-the-shelf tools for incident commanders" (Roberts, 2014). Small UASs would be used for fire surveillance with electro-optical and infrared sensors. They could fly at low altitudes to look for hot-spots, be a communications relay, assist with directing firefighters, provide coverage at night and assist with directing water/fire retardant from manned or UAS platforms (Hinkley, Zajkowski, Ambrosia, & Schoenung, 2007; Austin, 2010 & Roberts, 2013). The ELIMCO’s E300 with FENIX is one fixed wing small UAS example (Roberts, 2013). It has a large payload, can be launched remotely and operated for 1.5 hours up to 27 miles away during the daytime and up to 3 hours and 62 miles away at night (Roberts, 2013). A major disadvantage to this system is the time aloft as it is not very much and the fact that it must be controlled line-of-sight (LOS). In wildland firefighting operations, LOS could be block by terrain and thus some areas might not be accessible due to this limitation. One major benefit to this UAS is the operator interface called planning and monitoring system for forest fire fighting (FENIX), because it lets operator locate and address spots in real-time using a mapping application (Roberts, 2013). The real-time video, coupled with infrared images, are geo-tagged and relayed to a mobile command center (Roberts, 2013). Other smaller UASs like the Insitu ScanEagle might be more appropriate for beyond line of sight missions or to get around ground LOS obstruction limitations with an approved FAA COA. In addition, it can loiter a lot longer (24+ hours) than other smaller UASs that were tested by the Forest Service in a 2007 Small UAS Demonstration and can surpass their requirement for a UAS capable of 4-8 duration (Hinkley, Zajkowski, Ambrosia, & Schoenung, 2007 & Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, n.d.). It could be a good compromise between medium to large UASs that can loiter for 24 hours or more and a majority of smaller UASs that limited to less than eight to 12 hours (Hinkley, Zajkowski, Ambrosia, & Schoenung, 2007 & Roberts, 2014). 
Medium to Larger sized UASs, including helicopters and fixed-wing, could be used in the same capacity as their smaller cousins but could be hampered by smoke or clouds more easily if fire surveillance operations are conducted. They could take the role that manned aircraft have with regard to applying water or fire retardant onto fires. In addition, they could take on new roles such as: rescuing trapped firefighters, delivering supplies or even vehicles to firefighters on the ground. The Unmanned K-MAX multi-mission helicopter is one good example as it offers fire suppression, aerial support and potential crew extraction to reduce risk to ground firefighters and aircrews" (Kershaw, Jones & Kleiman, 2015). The wildland firefighting version is a derivative of the military’s heavy lift version and capable of carrying 3,000 gallons of fire retardant like the Forest Service’s current manned helicopters (Werner, 2015). In addition it is capable of electro-optical and infrared imagery, providing a total payload capacity of 6,000 pounds at sea-level (4,000 pounds at en-route altitude of 15,000 feet) and can fly, take-off and land autonomously or in a remote controlled fashion (Products: KMAX, n.d.; Roberts, 2014 & Werner, 2015). In 2015, the K-MAX successfully demonstrated wildland firefighting operations, including cargo drops, single target water drops and progressive line building with a bucket (Kershaw, Jones & Kleiman, 2015). It represents a dramatic shift in wildland firefighter that has seen manned aircraft for the last 80 years (Kershaw, Jones & Kleiman, 2015). 
There have been several uses of medium sized fixed wing UASs that have not been a part of any demonstration but has confirmed that UAS technology is ready to support wildland firefighting operations with fire surveillance. From 2006 to 2009, a NASA MQ-9 "Ikhana" successfully employed its multispectral camera to send maps of the fire area to incident commanders on the ground (Werner, 2015). In 2013, the California National Guard MQ-1B Predator provided electro-optical and infrared full motion video for 20 hours at an altitude of 23,000 feet (Werner, 2015). It demonstrated the ability to pinpoint the hottest areas, identified already scored vegetation and spotted nearby brush that threatened to provide fuel for a wildland fire (Werner, 2015). The main advantage was based on the fact that these UASs remained well above manned air tanker flights altitudes/TFR airspace and still provided detailed imagery or full motion video. This separation allowed both to do their jobs uninterrupted by each other. The MQ-1B and MQ-9 "Ikhana" represented two successful medium sized UAS examples that could operate day or night for fire surveillance.
There are no legal or ethical challenges to date with wildland firefighting as the concept is still relatively new and governmental agencies are the primary agent for this type of operation, coupled with the broadcast of its operations to more than one person, makes it less susceptible to miss use.
References
FAA releases preliminary cause of S-2T crash. (2014). Fire Aviation: News and Opinion. Retrieved from http://fireaviation.com/2014/10/09/faa-releases-preliminary-cause-of-s-2t-crash/
Hinkley, E.A., Zajkowski, T., Ambrosia, V., & Schoenung, S. (2007) Small UAS Demonstration for Wildfire Surveillance
Kershaw, J., Jones, J., & Kleiman, E. (2015). Interior, U.S. Forest Service Explore Use of Unmanned Aircraft to Improve Firefighter Safety. U.S. Department of Interior: Press Releases. Retrieved from https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-us-forest-service-explore-use-unmanned-aircraft-improve-firefighter-safety
Products: KMAX. n.d. Lockheed Martin. Retrieved from http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/kmax.html
Nix, S. (2016). Wildland Firefighting in Forests. About Education. Retrieved from http://forestry.about.com/od/forestfire/a/firefighting.htm
Roberts, M.R. (2014). 5 Drone technologies for firefighting. Fire Rescue: Fire Products: Communications. Retrieved from http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/communications/articles/1867819-5-drone-technologies-for-firefighting/
ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. n.d. Boeing: Technical Specifciations. Retrieved from http://www.boeing.com/history/products/scaneagle-unmanned-aerial-vehicle.page
Templeton, A. (2015). Drones Increasingly Force Firefighting Aircraft to Ground. Retrieved from http://www.opb.org/news/article/private-drones-increasingly-force-firefighting-aircraft-to-the-ground/
Than, K. (2013). New Firefighting Technologies: Drones, Super Shelters. National Geographic. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130702-yarnell-hill-wildfire-firefighting-technology-science/
Werner, C.L. (2015). Using Drones In the Fire Service. Firehouse: Technology and Communications. Retrieved from http://www.firehouse.com/article/12041104/drones-in-the-fire-service
Werner, D. (2015). Fire Drones. Aerospace America Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.aerospaceamerica.org/Documents/Aerospace%20America%20PDFs%202015/June2015/Feature_FireDrones_AA_June2015-3.pdf
Wildland Fires. (2016). National Fire Protection Association. Retrieved from http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/for-consumers/outdoors/wildland-fires
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