Utilizing UAVs for firefighting is well-known. This video demonstrates unmanned systems being used for fire investigations, a completely different application. The ease of determining the causes of fires is directly related to the view the investigators have of the burned trees. The perspective provided by high-definition cameras on small UAVs is close to ideal. I doubt that many developers could have predicted this particular use for unmanned systems. As unmanned systems diffuse into the civilian/commercial sector, we can expect more unexpected applications.
