Signal Mirror
Signal mirrors are used in wildland firefighting operations to communicate between ground and air personnel. Firefighters on the ground flash mirrors to signal staff in the air who can then identify the precise location of ground staff. Signal mirrors, like global positioning systems, enable air personnel to quickly locate firefighters on the ground and thus save time flying around looking for them and therefore thousands of dollars per day in operating expenses.
Aircraft personnel often need to locate ground personnel during a wildfire in order to help ground personnel to recon the fire, deliver resources to ground personnel, and retreive spent resources from ground personnel. Some resources that aircraft operators might need to deliver to ground personnel are additional personnel, drinking water, food, sleeping bags, tools, and water for extinguishing fire.
Encyclopedia ID: p328
