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With peak wildfire season approaching, scientists with NASA\u2019s FireSense project have created low-cost thermal sensors to install on fire bulldozers that will alert firefighters when heat from a nearby fire reaches a dangerous level. The sensors also provide researchers with important data on what happens beneath the canopy during a fire.<\/p>\n
In April, researchers and firefighters gathered in southern Alabama to discuss challenges and advances in firefighting, and to demonstrate the new technology. The event was part of a collaboration between NASA and the Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC). The goal: to make firefighting safer and gather critical data on fire behavior.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we try to develop technologies that allow us to understand and respond to wildfires with our partners, ground observations are vital to provide context for what we are seeing from space,\u201d said Ian Brosnan, program manager for wildland fires at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n
Firefighters nationwide use bulldozers, colloquially referred to as fire dozers, on the front line of a fire to clear vegetation and to create fire breaks, which slow or stop a wildfire\u2019s spread. This often puts dozers and their operators within feet of the flames.<\/p>\n
The AFC is switching its fleet to a model of bulldozer that has an enclosed cab called an \u201cenvirocab.\u201d While envirocabs are safer for operators than open cabs, the enclosure makes it more difficult to gauge when radiant heat from the fire has reached a dangerous temperature.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not so much about what\u2019s going to burn the tractor up as what\u2019s going to shut the tractor down,\u201d said Ethan Barrett, AFC fire analyst. The electrical wiring can short or even melt from high heat, stranding the operator in a dangerous environment.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where NASA comes in. According to Brosnan, developing thermal sensors for the AFC was an opportunity to create technology that has immediate impact on firefighter safety, while also providing scientists with valuable information about what happens on the ground during a fire.<\/p>\n
Ethan barrett<\/p>\n
AFC Fire Analyst<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The AFC\u2019s requirements for a sensor were simple: it needed to be low-cost and easy to operate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used commercial, off-the-shelf components to make this,\u201d said Jennifer Fowler, science integration manager for the wildland fires program at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. \u201cThe thermocouple that sits in the window to measure temperature, for example, is the same one used in an oven or a kiln.\u201d<\/p>\n
That thermocouple is wired to a simple LED light attached to the dashboard that\u2019s directly in the operator\u2019s line of sight. When the thermocouple senses an unsafe temperature, the LED starts blinking. The whole system is powered by AA batteries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile installing the second sensor, we realized we needed an extra piece, so we just ran out to the local hardware store to grab it,\u201d said Ryan Wade, research scientist with the University of Alabama, Huntsville and NASA FireSense. \u201cNASA\u2019s expertise in this case comes not in the novelty of the instrument itself, but in figuring out how to solve the problem quickly and integrate that technology into their existing system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fowler installed the first of these sensors in September 2025, and Wade installed the second in March 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince their installation, we have run them on wildfires and prescribed burns and they\u2019ve been effective,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cThey work exactly as intended, and the operators have said it leads to better situational awareness. Based on the success of this pilot, we are looking at outfitting all the dozers in our fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n \n