Cole Lindsay, the Oregon Department of Forestry aviation coordinator, said firefighters would typically have to hike into the dark canyon to check for new fires — a time-consuming and potentially dangerous task on a wildfire that had already roared to 23,890 acres in Wheeler County. But technology has advanced. Instead of sending people, Lindsay sent a drone equipped with an infrared camera to sweep across the canyon. “The cameras and sensors are so good that it would have seen something way before the human eye,” Lindsay said. …The Oregon Department of Forestry has 29 pilots. In 2024, ODF and its contractors flew 482 drone missions, 364 of which were for fire purposes. Out of 136 hours of flight time, 98.5 hours were on fire missions. So far in 2025, ODF, excluding its contractors, have flown 41 missions totaling 14 hours. Out of those 14 hours, 7.9 hours were for fire purposes.