The Scan Eagle drone, designed and manufactured by Insitu in Bingen, Washington, has been deployed to survey the development of the fires in the Olympic National Park. The ability to go into areas where limited visibility makes manned aircraft flight difficult is helpful for firefighters whose resources are stretched thin by the wide area of land currently on fire.

Washington State is number two in the nation for the production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, manufacturing over 700 a year for a wide variety of industrial, agricultural and military uses.

Read more in The Seattle Times.