Oregon Department of Forestry Scores Futuristic Wildfire Detection Airplane

The Oregon Department of Forestry will be stationing a new, multi-mission airplane, equipped with technology out of a sci-fi movie, in Prineville — just in time for fire season.

The Twin Otter, which some appreciators refer to as a “Twotter,” will relieve ODF’s Partenavia P.68 Observer airplane, which will be retired after more than three decades of use.

Manufactured by de Havilland Canada, the Twin Otter was originally introduced in 1966 and is valued for its short takeoff and landing abilities and stable flight at slow speeds, which make the plane ideal for low-level surveys and data collection, according to the manufacturer.

The Twin Otter comes with a $7.8 million price tag, yet its state-of-the-art sensing technology, which tacked on an extra $5.4 million, is what makes the plane a multi-mission aircraft. The plane will be kitted with AI-enabled, wide-area and augmented-reality mapping abilities, along with high-definition thermal imaging and night vision capabilities.

The new plane and its cutting-edge tech ring in at $13.23 million, yet most of that — $12 million — comes from legislatively approved bonds from 2023 and the remaining $1.23 million from additional funding sources, according to ODF.

While the plane is currently wrapping up final integration and testing in California, the aircraft will be stationed at the Prineville Airport because the location lets it quickly respond to wildfire hotspots in Eastern and Southern Oregon, the agency said, although flights are within several hours of anywhere in the state. The plane’s technology will let the agency spot and communicate new and developing incidents more quickly, track fire behavior with better detail and lend situational awareness to both daytime and nighttime operations. Once the plane arrives in Central Oregon, pilots and flight crew will go through several weeks of training. Thereafter, the Twin Otter and its tech should be ready to go for fire season.

“This aircraft represents a major step forward for Oregon’s aviation program,” Neal Laugle, the state aviation manager for ODF, said in a release. “It builds on decades of experience while bringing new capabilities that allow us to detect fires earlier, understand conditions in real time, and provide critical intelligence to firefighters and decision-makers on the ground when every minute matters.”

The way ODF has conventionally tracked wildfires by air goes like this: ground crews, with a mind toward possible fire starts, keep tabs on weather forecasts and lightning activity. When storms blow through, any lightning strike location data is picked up and uploaded to the airplane’s mapping and mission planning tools. If cleared for takeoff, the aircrew scans affected areas with onboard sensors and night-vision goggles to notice new fires. Once a fire gets noticed, the crew spreads the words to dispatch centers, which then mobilize suppression resources.

Yet with the super-brainy Twin Otter, that process will be much quicker — and more surgical.

“What makes [the plane] unique is the combination of advanced mission systems with night vision capability,” Laugle says. “When operating at night, night vision allows our crews to detect subtle visual cues — like the flicker of a new fire start — that are often difficult or impossible to see with the naked eye. Paired with our onboard sensors, this significantly improves our ability to find and respond to fires at night.”