KENT—Four United States Army veterans, have teamed up to develop what could be the next generation of fire prevention technology in the wake of the devastating fires that have ravaged more than 50,000 acres of Los Angeles County recently.
Kent-based startup X-Fire UAS is developing unmanned aerial solutions which it says could be a more accessible, and affordable, solution to fires such as these, while providing preventative measures and disaster preparedness for the future. It is founded by U.S. military veterans and Blue Origin engineers Michal Mahan, Tim Kennedy, Dave Dutcher, and Micah Lutz.
These drone-based firefighting tools are equipped with direct drop fire suppressors, aerial forestry torches, and aerial firefighting systems which use a high volume of dispersal of fluids for firefighting or pre-treatment. The drones also utilize artificial intelligence to detect, predict, and attack wildfires while providing HD/Thermal/LiDAR aerial scans for ground crews for intelligence purposes. AI is also used to pinpoint where the fire is most vulnerable to target its weak spot using aerial attack severing it from its source of fuel.
“You’re hitting that fire with everything that it doesn’t like,” said X-Fire UAS Co-Founder Michael Mahan. “With a fire you have to attack the fire triangle, we are going after the oxygen, the fuel and the ignition or heat source with our system. It doesn’t like that you’re removing what it’s burning because it needs material and oxygen. And you’re killing the heat with the use of FS-01.”
The hybrid-powered drones can also provide essential supply drops in areas where traditional resupply operations are difficult or impossible, especially rural and hard-to-get-to areas.
The two main models include the XF-7, which can clock up to 200 miles-per-hour in flying speed, and the XF-6, which can hold traditional suppressants or FS-01 fire suppressant foam (pending EPA approval), which the company says is more sustainable than the traditional foam fire prevention uses today. Each XF-6 can carry enough suppressant to cover 2800 square feet per aircraft with scalability.
X-Fire UAS’ drones are made of fire resistant material, designed for 24/7 operations in hostile environments, and last for years requiring minimal maintenance. Even then the maintenance costs are relatively cheap.
“Hitting them [wildfires] with airplanes is not the solution — it’s the consequence,” Mahan told the Lynnwood Times. “It’s a terrible consequence that comes at a huge cost and is extremely damaging to the environment from erosion; to landslides; to environmental impact from mass quantities of fire retardant. The solution is unmanned aircrafts – which we saw were effective in Afghanistan and now know how effective they’ve been in Ukraine.”
The drones are docked in Rapid Response Systems, basically trailer-like containers which can house four pilots and up to seven (or more) modular drones to support any mission. These containers are diverse and highly mobile with the capabilities to even be shipped overseas during off-seasons. The time and cost to manufacture multiple drones is far less than a single aircraft, according to Mahan.
“The best part about this system is it can go anywhere. I can put it in a truck, I can pack it up, and now I can send it to Australia because their fire season is the opposite of ours,” said Mahan. “This system can be used anywhere and we can put it wherever it needs to be.”
X-Fire UAS is currently seeking the necessary funding to support required EPA testing and FAA certification. Once it secures these funds and certifications it plans to partner with local firefighting agencies. The company has already garnered interest from the USDA/USFS, Department of Energy, Australian Commonwealth, CALFIRE, the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation, and Washington State Fires departments. It has also expressed working with large scale agriculture operations, infrastructure providers, insurance companies, and HOA’s in high-risk areas in the future.
The company also needs about $5.5 million to pay for a Chief Pilot (a FAA requirement), four Pilots/Technicians, a Machinist, and a Software Engineer to get their operation up-and-going. After all is said and done the company says it can manufacture a fleet of 70 units ready for action – which could service the entirety of the West Coast of the United States – in as quick as eight months.
“The goal is to get to a fire within 45-minutes or less of ignition, which is sooner than aircrafts are able to get there now, and with large enough numbers we’ll be able to do the exact same thing as an airplane can do just a lot more direct and purposeful,” said Mahan.
One X-fire system can provide the same services as a traditional aircraft at a fraction of the cost a spotter drone and six heavy lift drones deployed for on-site reconnaissance, spot fire extinguishment, controlled burning, and cargo delivery twenty four hours of the day, seven days a week.
The off-season operation costs could range up to $16,200 to support, would consist of a team of two pilots, a spotter drone, and six heavy lift drones deployed for aerial reseeding, power line spotting, crop spraying, aerial surveying and imaging, and structure pre-treatment used for fire prevention. The use of unmanned systems in these applications would significantly reduce the cost and danger of traditional aircraft and manual labor.
These costs are significantly lower than the $3.0 billion average most U.S. fire fighting services spend on fire suppression services according estimates from the National Interagency Fire Center.
“We need to change our infrastructure. We need to get preventive,” said Mahan.
For more information contact Michael Mahan at mahan@xfireuas.com.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
