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High-tech firefighting: what's hot now, what's on drawing board

Every year wildfires scorch millions of acres of US land and cost the nation billions of dollars. We still know little about how wildland fires spread, and they can take weeks to bring under control. Here's a look at seven cutting-edge technologies that are helping to fill in the gaps in firefighting capability.

4. Firefighting robots

Howe and Howe Technologies
Test specialists Jesse Morrill (shown) and Will McMaster test Howe and Howe Technologies' Thermite 3.0, a firefighting robot, in Waterboro, Maine. Thermite delivers 1,000 gallons of water per minute at 150 psi.

One challenge is always to keep firefighters safe in hot and dangerous conditions. Forest fires can become so hot that firefighters must back away from the blaze and focus their efforts on containment rather than extinguishing the fire.

Engineers at Howe and Howe Technologies in Waterboro, Maine, have developed the Thermite, a firefighting robot that can battle wildfires where firefighters cannot.

According to Howe and Howe’s website, “The Thermite is a durable, compact, and self-contained fire-fighting and emergency response robot capable of handling situations and blazes that, up until now, needed to be tended rather than fought.”

The US Navy is also testing a firefighting robot that could help battle fires aboard ships.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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