BOISE, Idaho — There are at least 21 wildfires burning in Idaho now – the National Interagency Fire Center said that’s the most of any state in the nation.
With that, several of those fire crews are calling in aircraft to help fight from the air.
It’s an invaluable tool,” said Travis Lipp, the operations section chief on the Wapiti fire.
Lipp spends his time coordinating aircraft efforts to fight the fire. He said local jurisdictions – like the Wapiti fire crew – requests aerial firefighting from the National Interagency Coordination Center, and then they determine where each aircraft goes.
“A lot of times we don't have enough aircraft for everyone who is requesting it,” Lipp said.
Lipp said there are three different types of aircraft used are helicopters, planes and drones.
“We do have a drone and we are able to utilize that daily for infrared flights to detect where the heat is,” Lipp said.