Assessment of the Effectiveness of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Wildfire Reconnaissance

Проанализированы количественные характеристики природных пожаров на территории Российской Федерации, произошедших в период 2018–2022 гг. Сравнение динамики относительных показателей пожаров показало, что в 2021 году на территории Свердловской области произошло в 8,75 раза, а на территории Уральского федерального округа в 25 раз больше пожаров, чем в среднем по России. Это обусловлено в основном опасными природными явлениями и климатическими особенностями. Осуществлена оценка эффективности применения беспилотных летательных аппаратов (БПЛА) для разведки природных пожаров. Проведено сравнение полученных на основе расчетов данных разведки с применением БПЛА и разведки, проведенной традиционными методами. Установлено, что время на принятие управленческих решений на месте пожара при разведке с помощью БПЛА сокращается в 4,25 раза по сравнению с этим временем при разведке традиционными методами. Natural fires in the Russian Federation occur annually. As part of this study, there was carried out an analysis of interannual fluctuations in the number of forest fires and a comparative analysis of the pyrological situation in the territories of the Sverdlovsk region, the Ural Federal District and the Russian Federation in 2018–2022. The number of natural fires that occurred on the territory of the Russian Federation, the Ural Federal District and the Sverdlovsk Region were related to the area of their territory. There was characterized a sharp increase in the number of fires in the Urals in 2021. The maximum quantity is found for the Ural Federal District, it is 0.2 fires per thousand hectares of territory; for the Sverdlovsk region this indicator reaches 0.075, while the national average does not exceed 0.01. Thus, in the Ural Federal District in 2021, the relative number of fires is 25 times higher, and for the Sverdlovsk region 8.75 times higher than the national average. The probable reasons are climatic. During this period, dangerous hydrometeorological phenomena were registered for the Urals, such as abnormally hot weather (record values), strong gusts of wind, and lack of precipitation (Report on climate features in the Russian Federation in 2021). Numerous fires dictate the need to increase the efficiency of reconnaissance and elimination of fires in the Urals. It is known that to eliminate natural fires successfully, it is necessary to conduct quick and high-quality reconnaissance. It was conducted a practical study of two methods of natural fire reconnaissance: the traditional method, widely used by fire and rescue units, and a method of using unmanned aerial vehicles. The object was the fire with two sources of fire that occurred on April 10, 2023 in the Sukholozhsky urban district of the Sverdlovsk region. The directions of fire development have been determined. For this purpose, a reconnaissance of fire sources was carried out and the possibility of using local water sources for refilling fire tankers was assessed. The results of the study demonstrated that the duration of reconnaissance using the traditional method is 17 minutes for two fire sources, and 15 minutes for reconnaissance of water sources. Using an unmanned aerial vehicle, the duration of reconnaissance is 4 minutes for two fire sources, and 7 minutes for reconnaissance of water sources. The time for making a fire elimination decision by the method of extinguishing a fire will be 17 minutes with traditional reconnaissance methods, and 4 minutes with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle. Based on the conducted research, it was concluded that reconnaissance using unmanned aerial vehicles is 4.25 times more effective in comparison with traditional methods.