MISSOULA — When a thunderstorm rolled into the Bitterroot on July 24, lighting strikes started fires all over the area, some of which were spotted by planes from Bridger Aerospace using military-grade sensors.
Bridger Aerospace — which focuses on both the hardware and software of fighting wildfires — spotted a total of nine fires last week.
With a combination of spotting planes and aerial tankers equipped with high-tech sensors and a program that collects and relays all the data to crews on the ground.
The program that Bridger Aerospace uses is an app that collects publicly available fire data from a range of sources and compiles it all into a package for crews on the ground.
The app provides the most accurate real-time data possible, helping improve the safety of firefighters.
“Everything that we do from early detection to command and control to suppression really is for saving lives and property. But really the first and foremost concern, on our minds, is the firefighters on the ground” said Bridger Aerospace CEO Sam Davis.
One interesting fact to note about the sensors that Bridger Aerospace uses is that they can see something the size of a bowling ball roughly nine miles away.
