Infrared technology being used in battle against Orange County wildfire
The wildfires in New York continue to burn, and state police are now taking an active role in battling the Orange County blaze with the help of technology.
GREENWOOD LAKE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The wildfires in New York continue to burn, and state police are now taking an active role in battling the Orange County blaze with the help of technology.
The Jennings Creek brush fire began on Oct. 17. Officials said it went dormant but reignited on Nov. 8.
“The fire not only spreads on the surface where the dry, dead leaves are, but it also gets into the ground," DEC Forest Ranger Griggsby Cowart said. "When it’s this dry, it doesn’t take much for the fire to kind of get 6 or 8 inches deep into the ground, which makes those embers just kind of sit and smolder for long periods of time, which is what happened with this fire.”
As of Thursday night, the fire had consumed nearly 5,000 acres on the New York/New Jersey border.
"A lot of the activity that we see now is planned and part of the containment process, so a lot of the smoke is intentional," Cowart said.
Crews are doing that with the help of numerous National Guard helicopter bucket drops of water. Two Chinooks and two Black Hawks have been called in. Over 100,000 gallons of water was dropped by helicopter just on Thursday.
When firefighters lose daylight, the fight turns to infrared night flights as the New York State Police take to the air with unmanned aircraft pilots to help identify fire hot spots.
“On this fire, we have about four," Joseph Malorgio, Staff Sergeant Division Coordinator UAS NYSP, said.
Trooper Malorgio is the NYSP aviation coordinator. He said the technology is key in providing information to those fighting the fire.
"Every year, it seems to be getting better and better as far as the quality," he explained. "I equate that to you go to Best Buy every year at Christmastime and you have that next best TV. It's the same thing with technology. It's almost hard to keep up with it at times."
Malorgio said the infrared technology in the drones helps fight the fire.
“You can clearly see on the visual display. You see a lot of smoke and haze in the air," he said. "When you go into that IR mode, you can actually drill down and see where the hot spots are."
The fire has threatened several homes and structures in the area. No evacuations have been ordered at this time.
The fire is nearly 70 percent contained. Officials said conditions are improving.
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