The role of drone technologies in forest fire management

Wildfires represent a significant natural hazard causing economic losses, deaths, and environmental damage and although systems are used for remote detection and monitoring, they only provide good performance in the area of efficient data collection and fire characterization in small-scale environments. However, when wildfires are large-scale, some of these ground-based systems are not suitable for optimal coverage. To address this limitation, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and associated technologies are starting to be used, which can provide an efficient and low-cost alternative for prevention, detection, and real-time support of wildfire suppression. This review chapter presents and analyzes the contribution of UAV/drone technologies in wildfire management.