A NASA satellite pinpoints the location, while alerting FireDrone Base Delta 9, situated on the US/Canadian border, the closest base to the fire. NASA

The fire's position is precisely calibrated to within 100 meters. Satellites deliver crystal-clear realtime imagery.

Team staff review the incoming data, cross-check with other sources, and confirm that a fire has broken out within their jurisdiction.

All-Weather, Day or Night, water-filled FireDrones power up and launch into the sky within minutes of the alert.

Though the fire is located 60 miles from the base in a remote and roadless area, at 180 MPH they will punctually arrive on scene in a brief 20 minutes — ready to battle the fire.

In order to alert all low-flying traffic on the route, FireDrones will be flying in neat formations, flashing red and green lights, and continuously broadcasting their location.

...and they will have their eyes wide open.

This cutting edge technology will always be mediated by experienced and dedicated professionals.

High-resolution cameras and a variety of sensors aboard the armada will report conditions from any angle as the mission draws closer.

Course and altitude corrections will be constantly refining their flight. Because FireDrones can fly through or hover in hot dense smoke and still report ground conditions, guidance and attack parameters will be constantly coordinated and updated for maximum benefit.

Why do we need a new technology to control wildfires?

Our climate is warming each year, and to a greater degree than scientists predicted. BLOOMBERG The wildfire season in both hemispheres is longer than ever. The sheer intensity of wildfires and their expanding geographical extent grow larger each year — with no pause in sight. Next year will be hotter, and the year after that, hotter still.

The cost of the current firefighting system has grown precipitously, at the same time as its ability to control wildfires has diminished. US NEWS
The cost is stunning — in terms of personnel, equipment, and aircraft, the destruction of forests and their flora and fauna, the ravaged homes our fellow citizens must flee at a moment's notice, and the despair, helplessness and fear of what a warming future has in store for us.

What are FireDrones? Why are they better in the short run than current methods? How feasible are they?

FireDrones form a powerful state-of-the-art airborne water delivery system. Their purpose is to arrive on scene faster than ever before, at speeds of 180 MPH, and deliver a hard rain that won't stop until the fire is put out. When needed, specialized FireDrones will drop fire retardant chemicals, which are designed to stop chemical reactions in a fire.

This method will outstrip current forest fire fighting methods with speed and unending water capacity — and fire retardants where indicated. They will perform their crucial task over any terrain, in any weather or air temperature, and at any distance from the FireDrone base station.

No humans will be put at risk, and no ground-based attack is required.

A serious investigation by private enterprise and government agencies could determine the feasibility of this plan. The U.S. military and NASA could be part of the equation. They operate sophisticated drones, and their expertise in all facets of design and operation could be crucial.

Why are FireDrones effective in the long run?

All FireDrones will be exactly alike. This will allow for world-wide production centered on one basic platform. Efficiencies of a global mass production scale, and the utilization of universal code updates and physical platform enhancements will insure robust FireDrone production. They continuously evolve in sophistication at the job they are tasked to do. They are not temporary, nor a stop-gap. They are an ongoing solution to both wildfires and the greenhouse gases (CHG) they emit. FireDrone armadas will reliably put an end to wildfires.

What makes FireDrones urgent and scalable?

A FireDrone system is realizable in that it will draw upon current technologies for its initial prototypes and first run units for the field.
They will incorporate the apex of our collective technical knowledge.

A FireDrone is simply a pilotless flying device designed to deliver an unlimited rain-like water drop wherever it might be needed. Hundreds of FireDrones launch within minutes of any confirmed wildfire, and arrive on scene fast, with a maximum arrival time of 20 minutes— up to a 50 mile radius from the FireDrone Base Station.

Urgency is driven by the failure of current systems to quell the new larger and more pervasive firestorms, and the alarming predictions of a rapidly and dangerously warming atmosphere. SCIENCE NEWS

As nations accept the value of this system — juxtaposed against the existential threat at our doorstep — they can invest in it, and support the financial, scientific and moral context for its rapid deployment.

What can you do to support this initiative?

Getting this off the tarmac will require a groundswell of public interest and support. You can share this presentation with the people in your circle. You can make this a conversation piece at gatherings. You can email your elected representatives and ask them to launch preliminary studies and to commit to working prototypes.

FireDrones — wave after wave — will saturate the burning forest below. No area in the fire zone will be missed and every area will sustain repeated and decisive treatment.

Each FireDrone will evenly and precisely deliver its payload of 3,000 lbs. of water (1361 kg, 360 US Gallons, 300 Imperial, 1.5 Tons), and does it not as a single water dump, but as a cool, widely distributed and saturating rain.

FireDrones will be designed to hover in the smoke — and defy the heat. They will be wherever needed for maximum effect.

This cascade of water from a never-ending skyborne flotilla will insure no mercy for the fire and its savage threat, no matter the ground area the fire has encompassed.

There are two game-changing principles that will give FireDrones their formidable power:

Hundreds will approach and arrive at the fire, and then they will circle back to base. Hundreds more will be launched — insuring a never ending hard rain.

The FireDrone sky-train will stop when sensors and base personnel deem the job done, the fire put out, and the threat neutralized.

The season, time of day, terrain, wind speed, altitude, distance, ground accessibility, weather, or air temperature will never be an impediment to completing their vital mission.

What if more 'FirePower' is needed?

If the initial assessment of 375 FireDrones proves insufficient, more units will be called into service from the originating base — and the next closest inactive bases if necessary.

The number of FireDrones allocated to any mission will also depend upon the distance to the fire. The further the distance, the more that will be required. Even at 180 MPH, the further the fleet must travel will also provide more precious time for the wildfire to spread.

Take a peek at a similar technology now being actively deployed. SCIENCEMAG

...will remain behind to scour every patch of smoldering ground below, while the rest of the FireDrone armada returns to base.

Our commitment is to make sure the sensors detect no hotspots above 120ºF / 49ºC.

Small flare-ups that might arise will be extinguished within minutes.

Not until every patch of ground is safe will the SafeDrone squad return to base.

No one was put at risk in this mission. No ground support was required. The highway to the wildfire was a straight line through the open sky itself and the target was always safely hundreds of feet below. This allowed for a robust margin of safety in which the FireDrone armada could do its crucial work.

A refined and innovative technological breakthrough prevented a fire that might have engulfed 150,000 acres.*

A quick and massive response prevented 13,000 homes from devastation and ruin.*

* This refers to the California CampFire blaze of Nov., 2018 and exemplifies the degree to which wildfires are becoming ever larger and more destructive.

...will no longer be a barrier to a precise, and massive attack on the spreading wildfire.

Neither fire breaks nor access roads will be needed to quell any wildfire.
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9,000 lbs. of water drops from the airborne fleet above this mountaintop wildfire every 30 seconds. The FireDrone wave is purposely continuous. It never stops until the last ember is cold.
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Lightning-strike fires in mountainous terrain or in remote areas will be easily contained.

Aerial water curtains will take the place of Hot Shot back fires where a backstop may be indicated, for example, a thousand yards in front of a fire driven by high winds.

FireDrones will be ready to battle wildfires whether in a forest, a peat and tundra environment, or on a distant prairie.

Anywhere a wildfire appears, it will meet its watery end fast.

...and they are a welcome sight for people trapped in the inferno.

They are lightweight, carry little water, and their engines' requirements also reduce weight, for the same reason.

First responder medical personnel travel in the AmbaDrone along with the fleet— if it is thought there is even the smallest chance any people are in trouble on the scene.

Where human personnel are not indicated, a few AmbaDrones still arrive at all fires. They can navigate through the burning forest, through the smoke and heat, and identify anyone on scene who may be in trouble.

They will then be whisked back to Base — which maintains a fully equipped and professionally staffed emergency unit — or to the closest medical facility without waiting for the fleet to finish their mission.

...deserve special protection.

Even the smallest of newly identified wildfires will receive larger armadas of FireDrones when they are near to homes or other structures of our civilization.

We can't wait until a housing subdivision or town catches fire before dousing adjacent forested areas not yet on fire. Job #1 is to generously and continuously inundate the arboreal periphery of any inhabited zones.

At the same time, all homes and residential neighborhoods receive protection with a
preemptive FireDrone rain directly on these otherwise vulnerable structures.

Hundreds of FireDrones mass, hover in place, and remain on duty as any fire may be approching. As they expend their watery payload, fresh FireDrones replace them.

The goal is to neutralize any flying cinder, and counteract any advancing threat.
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 Image by Andrea Stöckel-Kowall from Pixabay

Maples, Oaks, Birches and other deciduous trees face being displaced.

As anthropogenic (human caused) CO2 increases in the atmosphere, evergreen trees are more adaptable than deciduous trees, and begin to supplant them, reducing their range.
SCIENCE MAGAZINE / DISCOVER MAGAZINE

Deciduous trees are those that seasonally shed their leaves in autumn, and sprout new leaves in spring, as opposed to evergreens — such as pines and spruces — which stay green year-round. Deciduous trees decrease wildfire activity compared to evergreens.
NASA

With the ever-greater extent and longer season for wildfires, those trees burn. Deciduous trees are already disappearing from drier regions, and 'invading high northern altitudes once covered by coniferous boreal forests.' Quoted content: SEATTLE Pi

Located at latitudes 55° to 70° North, the tundra is a vast and treeless land which covers about 20% of the Earth's surface, circumnavigating the North pole. BLUE PLANET BIOMES

Like forest fires, peat and tundra fires have always been part of the natural course; study of the tundra reveals that fires have occurred seasonally in cycles, with greater and lesser frequency over the last 6,000 years.

Forests today have at least some resources committed to their protection; the vast tracts of peat and tundra have nothing comparable. FireDrone bases deployed to scale in those regions could alter that disastrous dynamic.

The consequences of out-of-control tundra fires are a daunting litany very similar to the troubles our forests are now experiencing.



Tundra covers 20% of the earth's surface. And that tundra and peat is now burning. Photo by Tomáš Malík on Unsplash

CO2 and methane (CH4) are in play in this scenario. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 30 times more heat-trapping than CO2.

"The third most abundant compound in peat fire emissions is methane. CH4 from peat fires are approximately two times higher than those for tropical forest fires, and are almost six times higher than savanna fire."
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WILDLAND FIRE

Hundreds of well-equipped FireDrone bases can be positioned throughout the Arctic tundra and peat mound regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Russia and Scandinavia.

In addition to those areas, peat fires not in the tundra take place on six continents.

Waves of FireDrones can terminate any new tundra fire as soon as it begins, and can spend much of their non-emergency time slowly but surely extinguishing every other ongoing peat and tundra fire in progress anywhere in the world they might be.

Rather than merely recite the litany of climate horrors in progress or about to crash land on our ordinary daily lives, let's instead act with purpose and alacrity to reverse each and every instance of them. Let's publicize them, and let's implement the dynamic principles of Scale, Spend and Urgency as our contextual roadmap.

There are more than 15,000 tall structure fires each year in the US alone. They affect skyscrapers, hotels, apartment buildings, hospitals, dormitories — or any tall buildings.

The vast majority of those fires are handled and subdued by fire resistive construction design, on-site fire protection equipment and the timely arrival of Fire Dept. personnel.

High-rise fires that are not controlled can spread quickly. They are difficult to address if they are out of the reach of conventional ground-based fire fighting methods.

FireDrones — stationed on rooftops throughout the city — arrive in minutes of an alarm. They blast water directly into the fire at any altitude — and prevent the building from becoming engulfed in flames.

This modern, state-of-the-art Canada / United States FireDrone base is located right on the border, and serves an 80 mile radius.

FireDrone base operations around the world utilize the same standardized technology; strategically located engineering facilities on six continents are constantly upgrading the advanced onboard and base control technologies to drive maximal performance.

Schoolchildren are particularly interested in visiting the base, and they are welcomed with FireDrone balloons, an exciting tour of the facilities, and a healthy lunch.

...and around the world. They are concentrated in areas of highest danger, and most susceptible to ignition from a warming atmosphere. Standardization of FireDrones, bases and methods promotes a rapid global deployment of technology and infrastructure.

The number of FireDrone bases in the
US and Canada might be about 500. Bases will have hundreds of FireDrones ready to launch at a moment's notice. Stations will be busy, organized, efficient and ready.

Just as several fire-fighting companies in a big city might be called to a blaze, so too will many bases contribute when needed to put out any and all fires near them.

John F. Kennedy's inspirational goal was achieved in a mere 7 years. Unlike the untested and yet to be invented technologies of 1962, all of the state-of-the-art scientific and engineering prowess to craft potent FireDrones exists today.

Drone technology is advancing at a prodigious rate — yet no country has focused this formidable capability on rendering unwanted forest fires ancient history. That time has arrived, and a coalition of willing nations might lead the charge.