Almeida, Tati

Hortsmann, Natanna

Nascimento, Airton Rener Pestana

Nascimento, Eloizio Ferreira

Oliveira, Carlos Henke

Pimentel, Norberto Magno Marins

Silva, Daniel Guimarães Dias

English

Portal de Revistas do ICMBio (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade)

Operational conditions of aerial 61 
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade Biodiversidade Brasileira, 10(1): 61, 2020 
 
 
Operational conditions of aerial forest firefighting: efficiency and 
effectiveness 
 
 
Natanna Horstmann1, Carlos Henke de Oliveira2*, Tati Almeida1, Daniel Guimarães Dias Silva3, 
Norberto Magno Marins Pimentel3, Eloizio Ferreira do Nascimento3, 
Airton Rener Pestana do Nascimento4 
 
 
1 IG/UnB (Instituto de Geociências/Universidade de Brasília) 
2 ECL/UnB (Departamento de Ecologia/Universidade de Brasília) 
3 2º ESAV/CBMDF (2º Esquadrão de Aviação Operacional/Corpo de Bombeiros Militar do Distrito Federal) 
4 CCBS/UFMA (Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde/Universidade Federal do Maranhão) 
*e-mail: carloshenke@unb.br  
 
 
 
 
ABSTRACT – The present work is a segment of a larger project named PROMETEU and 
aims to contribute to study the effectiveness and efficiency of aerial firefighting in the 
Cerrado Biome (Brazil). The study area was the Federal District (Brazil) and data collect 
was performed by the probe SAPHIRA 3v.3, coupled in a airtanker (water bomber) aircraft 
(Airtractor AT-802F, with 3000 liters of water capacity). Data were collected every 2 
seconds, comprising information on geographical coordinates, speeds, altitudes and 
various kinematic data. The accuracy of the passes over the fire lines was assessed by 
orthogonal photographs taken by a RGB camera and the water release point was 
determined by the altitude and barometric oscillations. Another set of data came from 
Landsat 8 satellite images (end of the dry season), in which the fire scars of forest fire were 
identified. The distances between the scar borders and the water launching point were used 
to classify the operation in efficiency classes: high if below 100m, moderate if between 
100 and 300m and low if above 300m. Air combat effectiveness was high in 46.4% of 
cases, moderate in 42.9% and low in 10.7%. The results show the importance of aerial 
combat and also reveals that the findings must be analyzed in the companion of several 
factors, including coordination with the team on the ground (local firefighters), vegetation 
factors (biomass and humidity), meteorological (wind direction and speed) and 
topographic/topological (relief and obstacles), since these factors interfere with the 
effectiveness of the operation. The aircraft tracking also showed that 22% of the time was 
spending in taxiing (moving in aerodrome with low speed), a fact associated with the 
operation based at Brasília International Airport, where there is interference from other 
segments of aviation (military, civil, general, commercial, executive, etc.). This value 
compromises the efficiency and effectiveness of the operation, as it increases the 
operational cost and the response time of the operation. These data are useful to justify the 
adoption of operational bases at alternative aerodromes, already in use. Acknowledgments: 
FAPDF (proc 0193.001387 / 2016) and CNPq (proc 442722 / 2018-4).  
 
Keywords: aerial combat, local sensing, effectiveness, efficiency 
 


Operational conditions of aerial forest firefighting: efficiency and effectiveness

https://www.icmbio.gov.br/revistaeletronica/index.php/BioBR/article/download/1545/1061

Operational conditions of aerial forest firefighting: efficiency and effectiveness

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