Firefighting drones are moving from concept to field tests as agencies look for faster ways to stop small wildfires before they spread. Ars Technica reports that California and XPRIZE trials this summer tested autonomous drone systems that can carry water, foam, or fire retardant.
CAL FIRE ran a July 15 demonstration with five autonomous drones that together deployed between 500 and 1,000 gallons of foam. Seneca’s Argo-1 drones can carry about 100 pounds each and use onboard sensors to locate a heat signature after a human operator uploads a GPS waypoint.
The drones are not replacements for large airtankers. Their range is limited, and they carry far smaller payloads than crewed aircraft. Their potential value is speed: they can be prepositioned in fire-prone areas, transported by pickup, and refilled or given a new battery quickly.
A separate XPRIZE Wildfire test in Alaska paired Dryad Networks’ detection sensors with an autonomous suppression system. The practical question is whether these systems can reliably catch early fires often enough to justify deployment at scale.