Drones capable of spraying water and fire retardants have been practicing putting out wildfires earlier this summer in California and Alaska, demonstrating a potential rapid-response firefighting tool. climate change transforms wildfire season into a nearly year-round hazard for much of the United States.
Most drones are significantly smaller than manned aircraft and have shorter flight ranges, meaning they cannot replace large air tankers in transporting massive payloads of water or other firefighting payloads in remote wildfires. But companies and fire agencies, along with organizers of the $11 million XPRIZE contest, are testing whether drones can help firefighting crews respond more quickly to small fires and put them out before they become more destructive.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as CAL FIRE, conducted its own field test with five autonomous drones that worked together to deploy a combined 500 to 1,000 gallons of foam to extinguish fires on July 15, according to the KPMH television station. The rally was organized with the help of the nonprofit FireWERX and the California-based organization. seneca companywhich will make drones commercially available from 2026.
Each of Seneca’s Argo-1 drones can carry about 100 pounds of water or fire retardant while working together in swarms of four to six drones. Once a human operator uploads a GPS waypoint, autonomous drones fly toward their target and use onboard sensors to detect a fire’s heat signature. HeliOps Magazine reported. The drones then find the best hover altitude before lining up to spray the fire, one after another.
Fully loaded drones are limited to a 10-mile round trip while flying at about 30 miles per hour on average, meaning they should ideally be pre-located in fire-prone areas or transported first by a ground vehicle. But each drone can fit in the back of a pickup truck with the tailgate down, and two people can even manually transport the empty drones.
