Extinguishing Forest Fires with Infrared Drones
According to SinaPress, forests play an important role in maintaining the balance of nature; they purify water, stabilize the soil, cycle nutrients, moderate the climate, and are a storehouse of carbon. Remote sensing has become one of the most common tools for examining the safety status of forests and managing these divine resources.
In this regard, the knowledge-based company "Imen Mahan Aria" known as "Imaco Fire", which is located in the Science and Technology Park of the University of Tehran, is one of the start-ups that has gone through the path of knowledge-based in a standard context. In fact, with advanced technologies, Imaco has been able to demonstrate innovative measures in firefighting, especially fires related to oil and gas systems, and by designing the drones equipped with infrared cameras to predict fires in forests and special firefighting vehicles for quick control of forest areas solves the problem of fires in pastures and forests.
The company, with its continuous movement based on the latest technological achievements, has produced and provided engineering support, safety and firefighting equipment of oil, gas, petrochemical, refineries, power plants, offshore, ports, mines, industrial factories, laboratories, educational and residential centers.
Shayan Saremi, the company's technical expert, in an interview with SinaPress, about the technologies used in firefighting by the company, said: "Imaco has started operating focusing on the design and production of firefighting equipment related to the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries since 2009. In fact, the initial idea of this company was around a piece of special equipment called a fire extinguishing valve; This technology is a control valve that is one of the main and strategic firefighting equipment in the oil and gas industry. This valve has been designed based on the internal knowledge of Iranian scientists from scratch, and after various experiments, we finally succeeded in making it."
He added: "This valve is the first Imaco product to be patented. In fact, it is a unique product that was the starting point for us to continue researching other equipment related to firefighting products, and then we started to build different equipment. The company is now almost 12 years old and we actually produce most of the firefighting equipment."
According to Saremi, the main products of Imaco Company have been produced from the beginning based on the basic needs of the country in the field of firefighting in the oil and gas industry, but also includes many types of equipment used in various sectors, including urban fires.
Referring to the recent fires in the world, he said: "Today, development of firefighting equipment has a significant role in controlling the pasture and forest fires. It should be noted that in many cases, the lack of proper firefighting equipment and inefficiency of this equipment leads to the spread of fire. Also in the past, the main cause of widespread forest fires that occurred inside the country was related to insufficient equipment. In addition, having insufficient equipment leads to poor performance of various devices. Fortunately, today there is no problem in the tools and efficiency of firefighting equipment in Iran."
High-Speed Fire Fighting Vehicles
The technical expert of this knowledge-based company, referring to the use of new equipment in the near future, said: "One of the plans we have in mind in the future is to design two special pieces of equipment in the fire extinguishing system, one of which is related to the mountain fire truck. Due to the fact that large fire trucks are not useful in many areas, this vehicle is supposed to deliver firefighting equipment with a focus on fire in forest and mountainous areas. In fact, its most important feature is the rapid delivery of firefighting equipment to the scene of fires in forest and mountainous areas.
According to Saremi, these vehicles are supposed to carry out firefighting operations in difficult areas and have a high capacity to transfer firefighters to different places.
Using infrared to predict forest fires
He added: "The vehicle that the company is trying to design and build, is used both in the oil field and in forested areas and pastures. The second piece of equipment is drones. Imaco's idea in this field is to design a type of drone that is widely used in forest fire prevention stages."
Explaining the idea of drones, he said: "In addition to increasing the UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) resistance to heat, we intend to extinguish the fire for a longer period of time; We are going to install some kind of infrared sensor in these drones to warn before the fire if the temperature rises in the forests. In fact, we equip the drone with various cameras to fly in forests to detect areas that have been exposed to high temperatures. The cameras can also detect high temperatures that have not yet led to a fire, alerting the center to take immediate action to prevent a fire.
We Get to the Fire Late
Referring to the current problem of our country in the field of firefighting, he said: "Our problem today in this regard is the speed of providing assistance to areas that have suffered from fire; Also, one of our major problems in the country is related to fire prevention and forecasting. Mostly, our main problem is not related to the lack of equipment, and we have good conditions in using the facilities and equipment, and therefore, we were able to provide assistance to Turkey in this regard. In fact, our main problem is arriving late in the affected areas; We need to be able to shorten the time it takes to put out a fire. We also need to have accurate forecasts of areas with a high risk of fire so that we can act quickly.
Interview by: Mahtab Damirchi
Translated by: Mehdi Fallahi Panah
