About
We are a collaborative of UAS wildland fire pilots.
We process and standardize thermal data captured by UAS pilots over wildland fires, then deliver it into the hands of incident commanders and ground crews fast enough to act on. Reducing exposure for the people working the line is the reason every other piece of this organization exists.
What we do
A pilot flies a thermal sensor over an active incident. Their raw data flows through a pipeline that calibrates, classifies heat, and produces NIROPS compatible deliverables. The package goes to the incident management team in the formats they already use. Pilots keep ownership of their data and their name on the product.
Why it matters
Thermal cameras are mounted to UAS over fires every day. The data already exists. The bottleneck is getting it processed and into the right hands before crews are committed to ground that better intelligence would have flagged. We built the Collaborative to close that gap.
Status
An Oregon nonprofit corporation.
UAS Wildland Fire Collaborative is incorporated as an Oregon nonprofit. 501(c)(3) recognition is pending with the Internal Revenue Service. The Board of Directors below is accountable for the work.
Board of Directors
The people accountable for the work.
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Eli Polsky
Founder and Executive Director
Wildland fire UAS operator since 2012. Administratively Determined with the US Forest Service. Call When Needed resource with Oregon Department of Forestry. Founded the Collaborative after years of watching pilot data sit unused while crews worked on yesterday's picture.
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Jeff Pricher
Director
Fire Chief and member of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group UAS Subcommittee. Brings deep operational experience and a direct line into the standards bodies the Collaborative needs to align with.
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Nikki Hart Brinkley
Director
GIS advisor and Esri affiliate. Technical authority on the geospatial standards behind every Collaborative deliverable. Ensures pilot data lands in the schemas incident teams already use.