Firefighting Drones Tested in California and Alaska as Wildfire Threats Intensify Year-Round

Drones capable of spraying water and fire retardant are being tested this summer in California and Alaska as a potential rapid-response tool for wildfires, which climate change has made a nearly year-long hazard across much of the U.S. While the unmanned aircraft are smaller and have shorter range than crewed airtankers, they cannot replace large payload deliveries but may help crews quickly suppress small fires before they grow destructive. On July 15, CAL FIRE conducted a field test with five autonomous drones that together deployed between 500 and 1,000 gallons of foam, organized with nonprofit FireWERX and California-based company Seneca, which plans to make the drones commercially available starting in 2026.