Firefighters from Scottsdale, Ariz....

Firefighters from Scottsdale, Ariz., neighboring communities and state and federal agencies bring into the presence ofed with growing frustration the flames that blackened 23000 acres of the Sonoran wild and threatened developed areas. Blinded from wind-driven thick smoke, they grop futilely upon that July 1995 day to determine the fast-moving fire's perimeter, its fiery spots and where it was traveling. Conventional aerial photographs were useless because vapor obscured the pictures.

Meanwhile, in his office in Scottsdale's city hall, Wilson Orr establish it difficult to concentrate. Apprehensive about the fire and the safety of city neighborhoods, his ponderings wandered to the beleaguered firefighters. on a sudden he received a call from the pilot of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) C130B airplane inbound to Scottsdale to do routine data gathering for the city. Having seen the billows of sooty vapor and recognizing the difficult conditions firefighters faced, the pilot remind ofed using the airplane's ...