The recent fires in Los Angeles have been devastating to so many people. I have been really intrigued with the coverage. There have been so many issues with the fighting of this fire from high winds to low water pressure, and roads too congested to effectively to get people out.
Another issue has been having enough personnel to fight the fires. The firefighters were already getting more than they expected with the Pacific Palisades fire, then the Eaton, Hurst, Sunset, Lidia, and Kenneth fires erupted . Firefighters have put it all on the line to get these fires under control, but they are working in challenging conditions, especially considering the terrain and high winds.
So that got me to thinking, when are we getting firefighting drones?
Current Aerial Firefighting
There are several helicopters and planes used to fight fires from the air. They can have tanks or carry buckets. They can release the water via cannon or simply drop the water. They can be filled via hose or scoop the water up. They all have humans piloting them. What if we don’t have enough skilled humans?
Firefighting Drone Technology
When I first started looking for firefighting drone technology, most of what I found was about drones assisting with monitoring the fire, not actually putting the fire out.
I was able to find a few small drones that actually put out fires.
The drones I found seem relatively small and don’t seem to carry much to put out fires compared to the planes and helicopters currently being used in the LA firefight. My guess is that these smaller sized drones might be useful for smaller fires, but would not be efficient to put out something the size of the fires in LA. Maybe swarms of drones could be used to go back and forth between the ocean getting water and then dousing the flames. Drones that are used to extinguish the fires seem to be in development, but not quite ready for firefighting.
If you are looking for ways to help the victims of the fire, here’s a list of organizations assisting victims: https://www.dailynews.com/2025/01/08/heres-how-to-help-southern-california-wildfire-victims/
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