3 ms·

Drones are horizontally scalable. Instead of one, 50 can go extinguish the fire.

• joelbondurant1 5y ago
• NAR8789 5y ago
  That sounds like a scene straight out of factorio. I'm not sure whether that's delightful or concerning.
• stickfigure 5y ago
  You're going to need way more than 50, and they'll need to coordinate dropping on a wide flame front. Also, it's not clear what they're using as a retardant - powders and gasses are almost useless in wildland fires. You need water. That said, what would be really useful is a surveillance drone we can send out when someone phones in a smoke report. 9 out of 10 times the call is nothing, but we still have to suit up, drive to the station, get in the engine, and go investigate.
• dreamcompiler 5y ago
  You're off by a few orders of magnitude. It's more like 50,000, and that would only work for a very small fire. Water is heavy and it takes a lot of it to counteract the heat generated by a wildland fire. Which is why water is not the primary tool for fighting wildland fires: McLeods, chainsaws, and bulldozers are. Fuel removal along a one-dimensional perimeter is much easier than bringing in massive quantities of water across a huge two-dimensional area.
  • systemvoltage 5y ago
    I thought we're talking about first 10 minutes of fire. Not firefighting after it has accelerated.