BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) - Researchers in Nebraska are testing a new tool that could eventually help in fighting grass fires - drones.
A team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln flew their unmanned aircraft over the prairie at the Homestead National Monument of America on Friday, dropping ping pong-like balls filled with a chemical mixture to ignite controlled fires. The fires clear out brush to make it easier to control wildfires on the prairie.
Michael Johnson, a spokesman for the National Park Service, says local and federal officials are interested in the technology because it could help clear overgrown vegetation in rugged, hard-to-reach terrain.
The drone was created by the university's Nebraska Intelligent Mobile Unmanned Systems Laboratory. It carries up to 13 balls and drops them from roughly 65 feet in the air.