Shortly after 7 a.m. on December 5, the top of Xiaoli Mountain in Dawu County, Xiaogan City, Hubei Province, was shrouded in thin mist. A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fixed-wing JT-290 UAV slowly lifted off from a dedicated apron, its propellers roaring to break the tranquility of the mountain forest.
Equipped with a high-definition camera, the UAV transmitted real-time images of the forested area. Dead branches and fallen leaves across the mountains, as well as tiny hidden smoke points under the forest canopy, were clearly visible on the screens of Dawu County's Emergency Management Command Center. Meanwhile, over 100 video surveillance cameras distributed throughout the county's forested areas operated efficiently in sync, jointly constructing a three-dimensional monitoring network to safeguard the ecological security line of the county—where "forests within the city" and "villages within the forests" coexist and interweave.
This is a vivid microcosm of the regular operation of Dawu County's "Air-Space-Ground Integrated Perception Platform" and a concrete practice of the county empowering forest fire prevention and suppression with technology.
With continuous economic development, the number of "forest boundary sections" in the urban-rural transitional zones of Dawu County has been increasing. The mountainous terrain is complex, with crisscrossing gullies. Traditional forest fire prevention and suppression rely on manual patrols, which struggle to cover remote areas with high mountains and steep slopes, posing numerous challenges to fire monitoring and disposal. Since the beginning of this year, Dawu County has targeted key areas with precise measures, investing 30 million yuan to build an intelligent forest fire prevention and suppression system. This system is simultaneously connected to the county-level computing power service center, which conducts AI intelligent identification and multi-modal fusion analysis of massive data collected by UAV patrols, video surveillance, and various sensors. A full-cycle, closed-loop management and control mechanism for fire "monitoring—early warning—response" has thus been established.
At the Command Center of Dawu County Emergency Management Bureau, data on the dispatch screens is updated in real time, presenting a clear overall situation. With a light click of the mouse, Zhan Linqun, head of the Bureau's Fire Prevention and Control Management Section, can clearly view the real-time positions, patrol trajectories, and task statuses of 32 UAVs across the county. It is reported that the county is equipped with various types of UAV equipment. Among them, the pickup truck-mounted "DJI Dock 3" can be flexibly deployed with emergency fleets for dynamic patrols, enabling 24/7 autonomous takeoff and landing and uninterrupted patrols at fixed locations. The DJI T70 UAV, capable of carrying 60 liters of water or 10 kilograms of air-dropped dry powder fire extinguishing bombs, has become a "firefighting elite" in areas with high mountains and steep slopes inaccessible to personnel, thanks to its strong load capacity and flexible maneuverability, providing robust support for rapid fire disposal.
To date, Dawu County has built 4 dedicated UAV aprons, initially forming a three-dimensional patrol pattern characterized by "full-area coverage, zonal patrols, rapid response, and precise disposal."
The effectiveness of technological empowerment has been fully tested in actual combat. On an afternoon in mid-November, a video surveillance camera near Fangfan Town, Dawu County, accurately captured a suspected smoke point. The AI intelligent analysis system immediately triggered an alarm mechanism, marking the precise latitude and longitude of the fire location on the map and gaining valuable time for emergency disposal. After receiving the early warning, the Command Center quickly activated the emergency response and dispatched a nearby DJI T70 UAV to the scene. The UAV reached the target area in just 10 minutes, and the transmitted images showed that a villager had accidentally ignited dead branches under the forest while burning crop residues in the field. The fire was spreading slowly and would likely escalate if not addressed promptly. The operator remotely controlled the UAV to hover above the fire, resolutely activating the air-drop device. The 10-kilogram air-dropped dry powder fire extinguishing bombs landed accurately, fully covering the fire point and quickly suppressing the flames. Subsequently, the UAV switched to water sprinkling mode, evenly spraying the embers to eliminate the risk of re-ignition. The entire fire disposal process took only 15 minutes, successfully extinguishing the fire in its initial stage.
