Arizona Wildland Firefighters & Kestrel Meters
Firefighters battling the Arizona wildfires are relying on Kestrel Pocket Weather Meters to get the critical environmental data required for fire safety and containment. As wildfires continue to spread across the state, firefighters face extreme and dangerous conditions on the fire line. Kestrel meters instantly and accurately provide all the necessary weather information needed to help to save land, homes, and lives.
The erratic and rapidly expanding nature of wildfires can prove deadly and devastating, swallowing hundreds of thousands of acres in a short period of time. Weather reports from distant weather stations are useless for determining the conditions at the point of fire. Kestrel meters allow firefighters to know the relative humidity right at the scene of the fire allowing them to make decisions for safety and firefighting strategy. Instant wind speed and direction readings also provide clues to the fire’s behavior and how quickly its path might change. Wildland firefighter and first responder Timothy Tonge explains, “Firefighters have come to depend on Kestrel meters for critical information on current weather conditions. Correct and current knowledge of weather conditions plays a key role in keeping firefighters safe, and properly fighting and extinguishing fires.”
Previously, firefighters had to use several tools to get all of the information available in one handheld Kestrel meter. The Kestrel 5500FW model replaces an entire firefighting belt weather kit with a 4-ounce unit. With optional Bluetooth® data transfer capabilities, the Kestrel Fireweather series allows for wireless weather data transfer to fire behavior models and other software.
Every Kestrel Pocket Weather Meter is backed by a five year warranty and is designed, developed, built, and supported here in the USA. Nielsen-Kellerman’s Kestrel Weather division has been researching, developing and manufacturing technically advanced portable weather instruments for more than fifteen years and owns multiple patents on their unique features. Kestrel Pocket Weather Meters are employed by thousands of users in hundreds of different activities around the world.
For more information on Kestrel applications, please visit the Fire Weather information page.