Fighting Fire With Innovation: The Patent Race Behind Wildfire Drones

This summer, smoke from Canada’s wildfires has spread hundreds of miles south, blanketing the Northeast in an orange haze and causing cities far away from the actual flames to activate their air quality emergency protocols. Residents in affected areas have been advised to stay indoors while first responders bravely battle these fires. Daily mobilization of firefighters and fire pumps continues to be the main response to combat wildfires.

However, as fire seasons start earlier, last longer, and become harder to contain, a less visible response is taking shape: a race to develop and implement new technologies capable of early wildfire detection, providing real-time updates, and even preventing the further spread of a wildfire. These new technologies may form a whole new response to combatting these disasters and are reshaping how wildfires are being monitored and managed. However, even less visible is the race behind those new technologies taking place at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Wildfire Drone Patent Activity

The recent patent activity in this field demonstrates just how quickly this technology may be evolving. For example, U.S. Patent No. 11,250,262 B2 (“Patent ‘262”) discloses a wildfire surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system. Rather than just flying over an area in search of smoke, the system equips a UAV with a specialized camera that is able to capture images through optical filters that are associated with wildfire emissions. The system then compares the captured images and is able to distinguish potential wildfire emissions from the environment. Next, the system transmits the location of the detected event to a remote dispatch system. The dispatch system may then dispatch firefighting resources to the location of the wildfire.

As another example, U.S. Patent No. 11,045,672 (“Patent ‘672”) discloses a UAV fire suppression system configured to start smaller fires in efforts to extinguish wildfires. For decades, firefighters have relied on establishing “fire lines” to control wildfires. A fire line is a break in vegetation created by igniting hazardous vegetation so that it cannot later act as fuel to advance the wildfire. Traditionally, this technique required crews on the ground or helicopters flying low over dangerous areas. Patent ‘672 involves an unmanned drone with a light-weight fire sensing system, ignition mechanism, and control system to remove the need for crews on the ground or helicopters. Specifically, the ignition mechanism includes a dispensing apparatus which carries up to 400 ping-pong-sized ignition balls filled with potassium permanganate called “Dragon Eggs.” Once the drone is signaled to release the “Dragon Eggs”, the drone injects each egg with antifreeze, triggering a delayed chemical reaction. The delayed chemical reaction allows the egg to remain intact before reaching the ground and igniting. The drone can ignite several hundreds of acres in a day and fly at night as well as in heavy smoke, allowing operators to safely create fire lines from above while remaining far away from smoke and flames.

Patent Impact

These patents demonstrate that patents frequently protect incremental innovation. The concept of a drone itself may not be new on its own, nor the concepts of thermal cameras, GPS-navigation systems, and creating fire lines. Instead, novelty may stem from incorporating these technologies into a system that can perform critical tasks more safely and efficiently than before.

The ongoing Canadian wildfires are a stark reminder that innovation in technology can be key to safely combatting disasters and potentially saving lives. It may very well be the years of research, engineering, and ultimately carefully drafted patent claims that make the drones’ implementation possible in the first place.

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