Cyprus Institute drones helping in fight against fires

The increasing use of drones to fight fires was underlined on Friday by the Cyprus Institute, whose Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory (USRL) spotted a fire.

One of the lab’s drones spotted a recent fire in Orounda and alerted the fire department, which dispatched a fire truck to the scene and extinguished the fire within a few minutes, preventing it from spreading.

Cyprus is among the countries most affected by the climate crisis, thus modern know-how is very important to deal with its consequences.

The USRL laboratory is part of the centre of excellence for climate and atmospheric research in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (CARE-C) of the Cyprus Institute, and focuses in the research and development of unmanned aerial systems and technologies.

The collaboration of the Cyprus Institute and the department of Forests, on the use and development of unmanned systems (drones) for the detection of fires is on the right track, the institute said.

The efficient use of drones provides aerial surveillance and detection of the extent of the fire as well as the timely warning of firefighters and guidance on the ground during the operation.

The video below, was taken by the camera on the USRL drone and shows the operational capability for detecting and dealing with outbreaks that could otherwise develop into catastrophic fires.

Watch the relevant video via The Cyprus Institute’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjeflxcjlww