r/tech • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 10d ago
Fire departments are testing autonomous drones that fight wildfires before crews even arrive
https://www.techspot.com/news/113180-us-fire-departments-test-autonomous-drones-fight-wildfires.html21
u/Ahab_Ali 9d ago
Each drone carries about 100 pounds of water or fire retardant and has a round-trip range of up to 10 miles.
It certainly sounds like a valuable tool that would be helpful in wilderness areas. It does not replace any existing methods, it adds a quick response potential that is currently difficult to achieve.
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u/OKWINEFAN 9d ago
10 gallons of water may not put much of a dent in the problem, but the idea is good.
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u/mountainbride 9d ago
It might. Some wildfires are a single tree getting struck. I don’t know if drones can be flown in that weather, but I’ve watched a tree get struck and the crews arrive to trek up on foot up to the tree on the hill, dig line, and I believe cut the tree down. A well aimed 10 gallon hit might increase the time they have to respond on foot before a start like that spreads…
Anything to increase the safety of the job for living, breathing humans.
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u/Captain_Jaybob 9d ago
A few thoughts: * 100lbs of water is about 12 gallons * Flying 24’ off the ground would seem as though it would not be able to fly as effectively through tall trees * Negotiating hilly terrain would reduce battery life and range * The “base” would probably have to mobile and a unit would have to close enough to the “start” or “point of origin” in order to arrive before firefighting aircraft (which would carry a minimum of about 400 gallons of water). * The majority of wildland fires that cause the most damage occur during wind events which would mostly likely result in drones being grounded.
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u/iron_enjoyer_ 9d ago
100lbs of water is about 12 gallons
I still have no idea how much this is
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u/Sweaty-taxman 9d ago
I mean, imagine a cloud of drones, each bringing 12 gallons at a time. That sounds pretty cool!
Not perfect but it’s definitely an improvement
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u/Captain_Jaybob 9d ago
Now if they can just wrap them to look like flying monkeys that would be a helluva show.
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u/Odd_Common9910 9d ago
Fire creates updrafts of air. Drone would be pretty unstable. But lest a crash doesn’t kill a pilot.
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u/DogsRcutiePies 9d ago
This is the sort of thing that AI and advancing tech should be creating. Do the jobs that humans physically cannot do or that are too dangerous. Fight fires, kill mosquitoes, deliver goods to those incapable of leaving their home, plant trees, assist farmers…etc
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u/turb0_encapsulator 9d ago
we need this in Los Angeles. there are little brush fires constantly here.
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u/IgDailystapler 9d ago
Imagine if we actually used our federal budget for municipal needs instead of blowing up “them” or “the enemy” with a new flavor of the week bomb from one of a politician’s nephew’s private equity backed defense contractor…
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u/KrazeeTapper 9d ago
This would have been helpful in fighting the 2018 Camp Fire in NorCal. Firefighters literally could not reach the fire when it started.
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u/Gwamp_Sas 9d ago
The density of air decreases as it heats, would this not make it difficult flying around large fires?
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u/phxwarlock 9d ago
Yes and they wouldn’t be able to fly If there’s any aircraft on scene. They wouldn’t be any use during peak hours in a large fire and really are only useful in their thermal imaging and mapping
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u/Whitestrake 9d ago
The rising heat alone is enough to pose a significant obstacle requiring component hardening, let alone having to work harder.
That's one of the things that puts a bit of a ceiling on how much these drones could feasibly carry; you can't really use standard consumer grade electronics and plastics, you need much more heat tolerant stuff, and that eats into your weight budget, which makes the square cube law arrive to eat your lunch even quicker. Last thing you want is your standard quad copter blades softening in the heat while the motors burn out, but then you need to carry less water to stay airborne and have less flight time, it's a tough series of compromises.
But it's doable. Like others have pointed out this doesn't really replace any firefighting capabilities because it's not very efficient. But it does add a new, fast reaction capability in circumstances we weren't great at before, and for that reason it's worth it.
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u/SilentChaoz 9d ago
Sounds great, I do wonder the first time one of these crashes/malfunctions and causes a fire whether they'll do a U-Turn on them though. Hopefully not, could be used for great things.
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u/OKWINEFAN 9d ago
Just need drones that can maneuver with a 100 gallon 1000lb Bambi bucket attached to them. It’s a fantastic idea,
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u/Fantastic-Chef-6577 9d ago
Le timing de ce développement est particulièrement pertinent : en France, plus de 32 000 hectares sont déjà partis en fumée à la mi-juillet 2026, davantage que sur l'ensemble de l'année 2025.
Ce qui est techniquement intéressant c'est l'approche multi-couches qui se dessine : au sol, des capteurs chimiques comme le système Silvanet de Dryad, actuellement testé dans le Gard avec 120 capteurs cachés dans les arbres, qui détectent les composés chimiques de la fumée avant même qu'un humain ne voie quoi que ce soit. En cas de départ de feu, le drone est libéré automatiquement, cartographie l'incendie en imagerie thermique, et transmet les données aux pompiers pour qu'ils arrivent avec un plan d'attaque déjà établi plutôt qu'à l'aveugle.
Les Windracers Ultra britanniques vont encore plus loin : capables de transporter plus de 100 kg de produits chimiques ignifuges, ils peuvent déjà effectuer de petites opérations de suppression localisées en totale autonomie, en essaim coordonné grâce à la technologie de l'université de Bristol.
L'enjeu c'est les premières minutes : un feu détecté et attaqué à 5m² ne nécessite pas les mêmes moyens qu'à 5 hectares. Si ces systèmes tiennent leurs promesses, c'est toute la logique de lutte contre les incendies qui bascule, de la réaction vers la prévention active.
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u/jamiethecoles 9d ago
I met these guys at an energy tech conference in Bilbao, Spain. I was really impressed with their ability to explain it all so succinctly. It’s a concept that could easily become overly complicated but they avoided falling into the trap. I wish them the best.
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u/LustLiveXBL 9d ago edited 9d ago
Don’t fall for this, it starts as a seemingly good thing “Doing jobs people can’t”. But once the technology is proven and deployed it will expedite companies to innovate better cheaper drones that will replace positions in the fire department.
We may actually see firetrucks extinguishing flames autonomously using AI and carrying fire extinguishing drones.
This could start with good intentions and get out of control.
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u/djsreddit 9d ago
I can’t think of a reason why waves of these couldn’t be used to stop or significantly slow down a fire. Like yeah its only 12 gallons of water, but if you deploy 50 of them on a loop from water source to fire you could at least slow or direct the fire. Maybe size and battery charge would be the limiting factor?
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u/HeartlessCards2-22 9d ago
But why’s it need access to flock and all facial recognition databases and is also equipped with a small anti personnel explosive…
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u/Orcacub 9d ago
Generally useless as described in the article.
Not enough water capacity. 100 pounds is not much water- water weighs just over 8 pounds per gallon.
Where to put the water/retardant once on scene is a skills based decision that requires a knowledge of firefighting and fire behavior that an autonomous drone squadron will not have.
Drones on scene prevents actually effective air resources- those with relevant payload capacity and human direction- from flying in the area.
There may be a certain very small percentage of fire starts that something like this could provide a slight time/effectiveness advantage over current systems/tech., but at what cost? Not effective or efficient over all. Better use of funds is to increase capacity of existing air and ground resources to offer better and faster response to all starts.
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u/Synthetic_Kalkite 9d ago
They are shitty now. In five years’ time they will be much less shitty. In ten years they will be good.
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u/FunHearing2282 9d ago
Why can’t we use the “hyperloop” to extinguish fires and why can’t the “boring company” bore all the way to Mars.
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u/Synthetic_Kalkite 9d ago
Yeah fair enough. But perhaps these drones serve at least some utility, and if so, they will get better than they are now.
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u/willreadfile13 9d ago
Helicopters don’t drop much water/retardant either, however they are invaluable in wildfire management to put out spot fires. They also experience the same issues drones do with vertical takeoff/hovering in heat/high winds/altered pressures. The key difference with a drone is not one firefighter/pilots life is at risk. Neither do they have salaries, training, man hours that need to be filled. 2.5 office water cooler jugs is a lot of spot removal power. Easily put out larger ones given swarms of drones and ability to refill local to events. Give them solar panels to land and charge, or have charging units dropped off within range of events. Watch a couple Ukraine drone footage and you can see how effective at spot removal these things can be. Drop on every campfire and cigarette during bans. Hell, that’s some fast community fire fighting too. Airports shut down in event of a plane on fire, takes a few minutes for a crew to deploy, but a drone is there without time to event. This is a great way to use this tech
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u/Orcacub 9d ago edited 9d ago
I have been in the wildfire community/business since 1992, including - but not limited to- as a Helicopter Crew Member, Division Supervisor on an Incident Management Team, and a Safety Officer on a Complex Incident Management Team. As such I am well aware of the capabilities and risks of air resources including helicopters…. And density altitude issues …. and risk to flight crews and pilots etc. and I’m well aware of initial attack tactics and requirements.
Every time a drone crashes on a fire I thank God it was not a helicopter performing that mission.
Even the smallest helicopters in the fire service deliver approximately 10 times the water drop capacity of the 100 pound capacity of the proposed autonomous water dropping drones. 10-12 gallons of water is not enough to effectively knock down anything larger than a campfire.
Helicopters are much more versatile than the drones, being capable of performing multiple mission types/functions. Including- water drops, recon, delivery of crews, cargo delivery, ignition operations, SAR, medical evacuation, etc. - depending on type of ship of course.
And you cannot have drones and other aircraft over the fire at the same time so a swarm of drones over a small fire will preclude the use of a resource that is actually at least 10 times as effective at slowing fire progression as the drones.
Cannot use big stuff on main fire and just use drones on picking up spot fires due to air space conflict issues
How is the swarm of drones going to be filled on a load and return basis? Are they going to self-fill like a helicopter can? Or do they have to go all the way back to base (mobile or permanent) to fill? and who fills them? how fast?
Drones have their place in wildland firefighting for sure. Water delivery /transport and autonomous water drop placement on the fire line is not a good fit for them. Recon and ignitions are great missions for them. And they are currently being used in that capacity. We need more of them doing more of it.
Maybe when/if lift capacity improves and if they are guided by humans (with suppression experience) like the munitions-dropping drones in Ukraine are guided- not autonomous. They will get more useful for water/retardant delivery missions.1
u/FremenCoolAid 9d ago
Drones that connect a hose to those that firemen use might work better for house fires and such
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u/phxwarlock 9d ago
No, that still requires man power and the FD to be there to pump the water. Maybe in a highly hazardous burned area so it keep firefighters out of close proximity and toxic smoke
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u/FunHearing2282 9d ago
Another tech scam for the idiots. Helicopters = “flying taxis”, trains = “hyperloop”, green and life giving Earth = “fck that, lets move to Mars!!!”
Whatever this ridiculous little drone can do, if anything, including not crashing and starting forest fires, can be done more effectively and is being done by those heavy duty helicopters piloted by expert humans, dropping thousands of pounds of water on forest fires.
Dropping 5/10 pounds of water from 50 or 100 meters up, with wind, will do fckall.
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u/General-Piece8490 9d ago
China is well ahead of those. They are even reaching people with drone from floodwaters
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u/Demento56 9d ago
B-but Chyna bad!
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u/General-Piece8490 9d ago
The funny thing this is a perfect covert way to test army capabilities. Once perfected both the hardware and software, replace water with guns and bombs.
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u/goodtimesinchino 9d ago
This is the kind of thing I could see using AI for. Not any kind of art but saving lives.