Wildland firefighting drones are being tested in B.C. [Video]

Alex Deslauriers and Melanie Bitner’s home was one of 56 properties destroyed by the Downton Lake wildfire two years ago. 

A fire tornado — a combination of extreme fire intensity, lower humidity and a low dew point —  swept through the community of Gun Lake, about 61 kilometres north of Pemberton, B.C., in August 2023, during Canada’s most destructive fire season on record. 

A working aerospace engineer, Deslauriers started brainstorming innovative ways to fight wildfires, to prevent others from a similar fate. 

LISTEN | A Canadian company is innovating a wildfire defence mechanism:The 2023 fire season in Canada was the most destructive on record. But Two B.C companies are working on developing a drone to combat the province’s wildfires. We talk to the CEO of FireSwarm Alex Deslauriers, and the CEO of Strategic, Domenico Iannidinardo.

“There has to be something that can be done with the technology available today,” Deslauriers thought to …