Wildland Fire

Valuable lessons learned from the devastating 2019/20 New South Wales bushfire season
In Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), the 2019/2020 bushfire season was one for the record books. This is not, however, a fact to celebrate. With many lives lost, homes destroyed, and vast amounts of land and infrastructure damaged, there is a need for both recovery and healing,

Hot Take: GPS trackers versus goTenna Pro X and mobile mesh networks
As part of the Hot Takes series, we’ll be taking a highly debated topic and exploring the pros and cons of both sides. During each debate, you’ll hear from goTenna Pro experts who offer the hands-on experience from working with customers and deploying goTenna Pro X devices in the field.

Situational awareness? Thanks to ATAK, there’s an app for that!
If you’ve ever served your nation as a member of the military or served your community as a first responder, you may have heard the acronym, “ATAK.” Interestingly enough, depending on which of those communities you were a member of, that acronym could stand for something different. In the military,

How the Dingell Act is making progress possible in wildland firefighting
Progress isn’t always observable. With 2020’s disastrous wildfire season, we saw the record-breaking loss of land and the loss of far too many lives. Knowing that wildland firefighting improvements were made in the face of such tragedy could be welcome. Confronting disaster is what wildland firefighters do. And seeking better

Podcast: Mystery Ranch’s Lucas Mayfield discusses the tools needed to keep hotshot crews safe
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election, one of the biggest stories of 2020 is at risk of being forgotten. 2020 was the year of the wildland fire, and not just in the United States. The year began with the “Black Summer” bushfires burning across New

Podcast: Sonim discusses bringing new capabilities to emergency response
When first responders and emergency response personnel respond to natural disasters, we want them to be as prepared as possible. But, historically, disaster and emergency response personnel deployed with just a traditional voice radio. This gave them the ability to communicate and collaborate via voice only. And even that capability

Video | Decentralizing emergency communications networks
When we look back at recent wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters, we remember the critical loss of cell sites, RF towers, connectivity to 911 dispatch centers, broadcast stations, and public alerting systems. We know that our centralized communications infrastructure is never invincible. So, how do we avoid these communications challenges

Four considerations for scaling mesh networks on the fireline
This year has been one of the worst on record for wildfire response operations and crews around the globe. It started in Australia at the very beginning of the year, with brushfires that were so devastating and destructive that they were headline news on every continent, burnt approximately 46 million

Video | Reimagining the wildland firefighter communications toolkit
As wildfires grow increasingly severe, we need to rethink the technology and equipment our firefighters rely on to stay safe, connected, and aware. This session from the 2020 Colorado Wildland Firefighter Conference will provide an overview of the new and innovative communications technologies that are enhancing resilience and accountability on

CivTAK brings military-grade situational awareness to any professional team — here’s how to take CivTAK off the grid
The civilian version of the U.S. military’s situational awareness application, ATAK, is officially released so any team around the world can take advantage of its leading tools for teamwide command and control — completely free of charge. The Team Awareness Kit for Android (often referred to as CivTAK or TAK-CIV)