‘Absolute gamechanger’: Transport Canada authorizes BC startup’s wildfire-fighting drones

There isn’t a lot you can do to fight a wildfire at night.

Ground crews can do a limited amount of work once darkness falls, depending on the specific situation, but essentially all aerial support, the biggest tool in battling a significant blaze, is grounded.

The lone exception is helicopters being flown with night vision goggles, but there are two just BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) choppers utilizing that technology at this time.

A technology startup company based in Squamish, British Columbia, is on a mission to revolutionize how wildfires are battled at night – and they’re one step closer to doing it.

FireSwarm Solutions learned last week that Transport Canada has authorized use of ACC Innovation's Thunder Wasp GT drone in wildfire fighting.

Alex Deslauriers, CEO of the company trying to bring these Swedish-made machines into the fight against wildfires in Canada, called the approval an “absolute gamechanger.”

“We believe it is one of those cases in society where it is an advantage to be a Canadian and to be working with Transport Canada, who is so incredibly forward-looking in the industry,” he told NowMedia video host Jim Csek during an interview late last week.

These are not your typical small electric drones you might buy at Canadian Tire and fly around for some aerial footage on a nice summer day.

They’re turbine engine-driven quadcopters, powered by jet fuel, with the ability to lift up to 400 kilograms of weight – in this case, water.

Each machine, which fits into the back of a Ford F450 in three pieces, can be driven to within five nautical miles of a wildfire, assembled and put into action.

They’re flown semi-autonomously by a pilot from the ground, picking up water from lakes or pumpkin tanks with a Bambi Bucket and dropping it on a wildfire, just like a BCWS helicopter would do.

The gap in wildfire fighting is at night, Deslauriers says, and these drones can help fill that gap when a blaze is “usually at rest” and most susceptible to suppression efforts.

Another exciting element of the Thunder Wasp GT drone’s ability to fight wildfires is their ability to attack a blaze in a swarm.

“We believe one machine can do damage to a fire, but imagine a swarm of three, or perhaps even dozens, attacking wildfires at night in continuous suppression,” Deslauriers explained.

According to Deslauriers, one pilot is currently allowed to oversee the operation of up to five of these machines, “so you can see the scale in which this will be deployable.”

While getting the green light from Transport Canada is a massive step forward for FireSwarm, it’s only one layer of authorization – next up is approval from provincial wildfire agencies like the BC Wildfire Service.

Deslauriers says the long-term goal for FireSwarm is to have one of these machines in every fire department and on every First Nation in Canada.

For now, the company is looking to make connections and find customers as they start to take orders, with the first of these impressive drones expected to arrive in Canada in September.

The cost is certainly not cheap, with Deslauriers estimating it to be comparable to a small-sized helicopter depending on how many units are being purchased at one time.

But in a country where wildfires can cause billions of dollars a year in destruction, devoting more money into resources that can help prevent blazes from ballooning in size might just be the winning ticket.