By Alan M. Petrillo
Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) have come up with a drone that releases ping-pong-like balls filled with chemicals that ignite in order to clear brushy and grassy areas before they can be burned by wildfires.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln fly a drone that releases plastic sphere dispenser balls to ignite brush and grassy areas to clear them in controlled burns. The testing was done on public land in Beatrice, Nebraska, in cooperation with the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, and Homestead National Monument. (Photo courtesy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.)
Carrick Detweiler, assistant professor at UNL, says his team recently demonstrated the functionality of the fire-starting drone on public land in April, working through the National Park Service, Department of Interior and Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska. "We also have had interest in this technology from the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Agriculture," Detweiler points out. "We started this project two years ago with a design and put together a prototype, which then was tested in a lab, then went to indoor testing in larger areas, and outdoor testing on private land before the Homestead test."
Detweiler says his team purchased an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from Ascending Technologies, in Germany, and developed the fire ignition device that would be carried by the drone. "Our ignition device had to be robust enough to go on a small UAV with high level controls," he says. "We used ping-pong-style balls that are the same that manned aircraft use to start controlled burns. These are plastic sphere dispenser (PSD) spheres filled with a chemical that, when injected into another chemical, produces a hot flame."
A PSD is a compact aerial ignition device dispenser, typically made of aluminum and filled with a high-grade potassium permanganate powder, that when injected with glycol, causes a chemical reaction and a 20- to 40-second delayed ignition, depending on the ambient temperature. The ignition burns for approximately two minutes and allows fire to effectively take place during burn operations.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln assistant professor Carrick Detweiler, left, and professor Sebastian Elbaum program a sequence of locations and drops for the wildland fire drone they developed. (Photo courtesy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.)
Sebastian Elbaum, professor of computer science and engineering, and a member of the team, says that the team developed a series of mechanisms to inject the glycol while the drone is flying, monitor the location of where the balls are dropped, determine if they are on the proper preprogrammed location, and also if the balls are live or not. "This is a semiautonomous process," Elbaum notes. "We program in a sequence for the drone's locations and drops but also have a safety pilot who can take over for the drone if necessary. We are able to operate farther than line-of-sight, but because of current
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Posted: Jun 27, 2016
Following approval to purchase a new truck earlier this year in a town meeting, the department purchased a 2014 Kovatch Mobile Equipment engine for just shy of $400,000 to replace a fire truck made by International in the mid-1970s.
The 2014 engine is a former demonstration truck.
"It has been in the works for years," said Fire Chief John S. Hannum. "The town finally decided to replace the truck. Forty years on a fire truck is way overdue."
The old truck was made in 1975, can only hold 750 gallons of water, has more than 19,000 miles on it and runs on gasoline, not diesel.
Hannum said the new truck is a huge improvement, and the town can expect quicker and more efficient response times to emergencies. One notable improvement, he continued, is that it can seat six firefighters wearing emergency air packs. In contrast, the old truck can seat three, and firefighters have to keep their air packs in storage compartments elsewhere.
The new engine can pump 1,500 gallons of water per minute, has a tank capacity of 1,000 gallons, and also has the ability to discharge firefighting foam. As far as gadgets go, a backup camera, remote control water cannon on top of the truck, a GPS system and on-the-spot snow chains help bring the department's equipment up to date.
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Posted: Jun 27, 2016
With the population around Dunnavant Valley Road on the rise, the Cahaba Valley Fire District is responding with a new fire station. Station 182, announced in June, will be built about a quarter mile north of the Shoal Creek Community on Dunnavant Valley Road, or Alabama 41.
Station 182, announced in June, will be built about a quarter mile north of the Shoal Creek Community on Dunnavant Valley Road, or Alabama 41. The station will assist Mt Laurel's Station 183. It will directly serve the Shoal Creek, Stonegate Farms, The Shires, Hollybrook Lake, Smyer Lake, Lake Wehapa and Spring Stone communities.
This is not the first fire station in Shoal Creek. Volunteers opened the original one, which CVFD began fully manning in 1991. That station, also called Station 182, closed in 2002 when the Mt Laurel station opened. Wilkinson said the department decided to carry that name over to the new building rather than renumbering it.
Stonegate Farms resident Allison Arnett said having closer emergency services can only benefit her neighborhood, especially as the rural area includes many homes on large lots. With the recent completion of Grandview Medical Center and the Brookwood Freestanding Emergency Department on U.S. 280, Arnett said residents in the Dunnavant Valley Road area have more access to emergency care close to home.
Wilkinson said reducing response times was a major factor in deciding to build Station 182. He said currently, response times in the area max out at about 10 minutes, but the new station will reduce that time to a maximum of five minutes.
Shelby County Development Services provided data from the 2014 American Community Survey, an annual survey performed by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2014, the survey estimated that the Dunnavant CDP (Census-Designated Place) had about 830 people living in it, and the Shoal Creek CDP had nearly 1,400 people living in it.
CDPs are used by the Census Bureau to define areas of the country that are not incorporated into cities.
The Dunnavant CDP is bound by the Shelby County line on the north and east, Hollybrook Lake Road and Shephard Gap Road to the west and the Bob Hood Branch stream to the south. The Shoal Creek CDP is on the south side of Dunnavant Valley Road, stretching from Double Oak Way to Hollybrook Lake Road.
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Posted: Jun 27, 2016
Two Grayson County EMS workers are recovering after their ambulance was hit by lightning. It happened at a crash scene on the Western Kentucky Parkway. The sheriff's department said the workers were loading an accident victim into their ambulance when a bolt of lightning knocked both of them to the ground.
The sheriff's department said the workers were loading an accident victim into their ambulance when a bolt of lightning knocked both of them to the ground.
They were taken to the Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center in Leitchfield.
Both workers were treated and released about two hours later.
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