What technologies are currently available for forest fire prevention or forest fire detection?

1. Ground Patrol: Ground patrols primarily involve educating the public, controlling human-caused fire sources, and patrolling areas blind spots of lookout towers. They also inspect and monitor personnel, vehicles, and any open fires used for production or daily life. However, they have limitations: the patrol area is small, the field of vision is narrow, and determining the location of a fire often involves significant errors due to rugged terrain and dense forests. In remote, sparsely populated mountainous areas with poor transportation, ground patrols are impossible, requiring significant investment in transportation and personnel costs; in such cases, video monitoring is often used to compensate.

2. Lookout Tower Monitoring Observation tower monitoring involves using observation towers to monitor forest fires, determine their location, and report the fire situation. Its advantages include a large coverage area and good effectiveness. However, it has drawbacks: observation towers cannot be set up in remote forest areas without habitable conditions; its observation effectiveness is limited by terrain, resulting in a small coverage area with blind spots and gaps, making it impossible to observe large fire areas with dense smoke, embers, and underground fires; observation from the towers is impossible during thunderstorms; observation relies heavily on the experience of the lookouts, leading to low accuracy and large errors. Furthermore, the personal safety of lookouts is threatened by lightning, wild animals, and forest encephalitis.

3. Aerial Patrol Aerial patrol utilizes patrol aircraft to detect forest fires. Its advantages include a wide field of view, high mobility, and high speed, allowing for comprehensive observation of the fire's surroundings and its development, enabling timely and effective measures. However, it also has drawbacks: takeoff is difficult at night, in windy weather, or on cloudy days with low visibility; patrols are limited by flight routes and time; and the observation range is small, allowing only one observation of a specific forest area per day. Missing the observation window means that the day's forest fires will not be detected, potentially leading to a major disaster. Fixed flight costs are high (2000 yuan/hour), and aircraft rental is expensive, resulting in insufficient flight funds. Therefore, fixed-point video monitoring is needed to compensate for these shortcomings.