On March 9-11, 2022, NASA's
System-Wide Safety Wildland Firefighting Operations Workshop engaged the broader wildfire management ecosystem in a safety-oriented discussion to better understand how NASA and community expertise can be leveraged in the development of future firefighting systems and operations. These discussions will help inform the first of a series of operationally challenging demonstrations. The primary goals of the workshop were to: identify and prioritize the top safety-oriented risks, gaps in capabilities, and emerging technologies to enhance wildland firefighting for both near-term and mid-term operational concepts; and engage the stakeholder community in defining emergent safety-oriented scope, roles, responsibilities, and procedures for agents undergoing increasingly complex wildland firefighting operations in information-rich, but uncertain environments.
The workshop included keynote speakers, panel discussions, and interactive breakout activities. Over 460 registrants were able to participate in the workshop, with a peak viewership of approximately 180 livestream participants and an average of 285 playbacks per day. Among the various workshop speakers, NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for the
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Mr. Steven Clarke and the Deputy Director for the
Airspace Operations and Safety Program, Ms. Cheryl Quinn, gave remarks regarding NASA's growing portfolio of interest in wildland firefighting operations. There were four panels comprised of a diverse set of stakeholders from federal, state, local and tribal governments, as well as various industry and academic organizations. Seventeen breakout sessions were also conducted over the three day workshop to collect information and identify areas of potential collaboration within the broader wildland firefighting community. The workshop resulted in a vibrant and fruitful exchange of ideas between the various stakeholders to address concerns in operational firefighting, autonomous systems, policy and planning, and regulatory domains.
