The Pacific Northwest seems to have joined northern California in that it is consistently on fire these days. According to AOPA, the authorities are asking civilian pilots to help them spot and monitor these wildfires from the air.

Col. Paul Ehrhardt with the Benton County Oregon Sheriff’s Office Air Search and Rescue department has asked pilots flying over Oregon to watch for any fires on the ground and report them to authorities upon landing. “This will go a long way in getting fires spotted and stopped before they grow too big to stop,” Ehrhardt wrote to AOPA.

In an emergency, authorities and emergency services need all the help they can get. In this case, as many literal eyes in the sky as possible will help them keep tabs on the firefight, monitor their progress, and redeploy fire crews as needed.