The U.S. Forest Service plans to move forward with implementing a drone program. The agency has been experimenting with the unmanned aircrafts for the last few years in its wildfire management.
Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said the drones have a variety of uses — from mapping to searching for hotspots.
"The challenge for us is to be able to understand what information we need and when we need it," he said. "There’s so much data that’s available but we’ve got to be able to prioritize it so we can quickly be able to use that."
Tidwell added the Forest Service is planning to submit a permanent application to the Federal Aviation Administration so the agency can launch the drones whenever certain fire conditions arise.
