Culpeper Star-Exponent: Madison leaders support bill investing in future of aerial firefighting

CULPEPER STAR-EXPONENT, ALLISON BROPHY-CHAMPION

The site of last year’s Quaker Run wildfire that scorched 4,000 acres, Madison County is supporting a federal measure that would boost resources for rural firefighters.

The Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) Act would codify, expand and improve the existing project at NASA and invest in the future of aerial firefighting, as was employed at Quaker Run, which burned private land and areas in Shenandoah National Park. “Madison County supports the ACERO Act and believes that it can better support wildland operations around the country,” said Madison County Deputy Administrator Brian Gordon.

“Our area does not routinely see the extreme fire conditions that are observed in other parts of the country, but having added technology and resources can only strengthen our approach in mediating wildland fires when they occur.”

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, is backing the bipartisan legislation she says will connect rural and wildland firefighters with additional tools to protect their communities from wildland fires.

The bill builds on the NASA program started last year, with the Federal Aviation Administration, to develop concepts and test new technologies — like drones and other advanced aviation technologies — to improve aerial firefighting operations.

Currently, aerial firefighting operations using an aircraft are limited to daytime and low-smoke environments to prevent crashes, according to a release from the congresswoman’s office. Drones assist firefighters in delivering equipment to ground crews, improving communications and remotely suppressing expansive wildland fires.

The Culpeper Police drone team responded earlier this year to a wildfire on Sperryville Pike in Boston, Virginia, helping firefighters better track its parameters. Across the state, wildfires annually burn an average of nearly 8,000 acres, according to the release.

“Firefighters from local departments, the Virginia Department of Forestry and our federal agencies go to work each day to protect our neighbors — and they deserve our strongest support. These brave public servants deserve the best tools available to protect our forests, wildlife and communities from wildfires — like last year’s Quaker Run Fire in Madison County,” said Spanberger. “This bipartisan legislation would leverage the advancements made by experts at NASA, better coordinate these first responders’ ability to monitor and suppress wildland fires and support further innovation to help firefighters do their jobs.”

The legislation is led in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Mike Garcia, a California Republican, and Virginia Democrat Jennifer McClellan.