AERO FIRE INTELLIGENCE BLOG
Electra Incident
July 4, 2022 | Blog
The Electra Fire started July 4th, near the town of Jackson in Calaveras County, California. Courtney Aviation provided Initial Attack, continued coverage and hotspot mapping with perimeter updates. Night missions were flown for National Infrared Operations, and coordination with CalFIRE helicotper 101 on July 6th to perform progressive firefighting capabilities at night with water drops. Courtney Aviation also provided hotspot detection during post-fire phase for seek-and-destroy efforts by ground crews.
The Electra Fire was active in Calaveras and Amador Coutnies for a total of 120 days, burning a total 4,478 acres. 452 structures were threatened by this incident.
Oak Incident
July 22, 2022 | Blog
The Oak Fire started on July 22, near the town of Midpines in Mariposa County, California. Courtney Aviation provided Initial Attack, continued coverage fire mapping, hotspot highlight and perimeter mapping. Post-fire hotspot detection was conducted as well for seek-and-destroy efforts by ground crews.
The Oak Fire was active in Mariposa County for 102 days, burning a total of 19,244 acres. The Oak destroyed 193 structures and damaged ten more. 3 firefighters were injured fighting the flames.
Six Rivers Complex
August 5, 2022 | Blog
The Six Rivers Lightning Complex started August 5th, in the Willow Creek area in Humboldt and Trinity Counties. Courtney Aviation provided Initial Attack services, and updated perimeter mapping. Mapping was a challenge on this incident due to cloudy conditions.
The Six Rivers Lightning Complex was active for 88 days in Humboldt and Trinity Counties. This fire burned a total of 27, 019 acres, destroying 8 structures and injuring 5 firefighters.
Mill/Mountain Incidents
September 2, 2022 | Blog
The Mill and Mountain Fires both started on the second of September in Siskiyou County, California near the town of Weed. Courtney Aviation provided Initial Attack services, continued mapping coverage with hotspot detection, and updated perimeter mapping for the duration of the incident. Fireview conducted prelimanary damage assessment on this fire using RGB and LWIR imagery.
The Mill Fire was active for 11 days burning 3,935 acres, destroying 118 structures and killing two people.
The Mountain Fire was active for 103 days burning 13,440 acres and destroying 4 structures, no one was killed during this incident.
Mosquito Incident
September 6, 2022 | Blog
The Mosquito Fire started September 6th, East of the town of Foresthill in Placer County, California. Courtney Aviation provided Initial Attack services, continued mapping coverage with hotspot depiction, and updated perimeter mapping for the duration of the incident.
The Mosquito Fire was active for just 50 just days in Placer and El Dorado Counties, burning a total of 76,788 acres. The incident destroyed 78 structures and damaged 13 more. Early rains brought a welcomed close to the incident in late October.
Live IR into IC Fire Camp
mapped over 100 Million acres, 493 fires. Thermal IR live-streamed to firefighters when our mesh radio-van was ordered.
Courtney Aviation NIROPS fire mapping and live IR to ground teams
Courtney Aviation provides tactical aviation services including aerial Infrared mapping of California wildfires shared with ground crews and fire management teams. This video shows technology in action on the 2020 Apple fire.
Courtney in Wall Street Journal
High-Tech Planes, Supercomputers and Helitankers Help Fight Wildfires California Fire crews abandon hand-drawn maps for up-to-date information on phones to track and extinguish blazes faster. By Erin Allworth for The Wall Street Journal LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST,...
Courtney Aviation on Linkedin
Dispatches from Courtney Aviation on Linkedin July 2020 Seeing what you say in national news every day is strange. Incidental to mapping all SoCal fires, we produce an acreage count, usually around midnight. It's not why we are there, but no one else on the fire can...
Analyzing Burned Vegetation?
Recently we've been mapping burned vegetation now that the smoke has cleared. Our daytime flights have been one of the first times large fires have been regularly imaged during the day. NIROPS and others mostly fly at night, but our high resolution 16-bit depth...
Sequoia Fire Team Briefing
SQF Team swap last night used our live aerial IR. A step-stare camera flying a NIROPS mission at 17500 transmitted live NADIR high-resolution LWIR & RGB and NIR on to the bottom of a big war-room screen and simultaneously showed AI fire polygons instantly as...
Contact Courtney Aviation
We are based in Columbia, California, northwest of Yosemite National Park. Please call or email us with your questions, or to connect with one of our staff.
Courtney Aviation
10747 Airport Road
Columbia, CA 95310