Team FireSwarm Advances as One of Five Finalists In Autonomous Track of the $11M XPRIZE Wildfire Competition
Canadian-led alliance earns finalist status in a global challenge accelerating autonomous wildfire detection and suppression
Squamish, British Columbia, Canada — February 4, 2026 — FireSwarm Solutions Inc., a Canadian autonomous aerial systems company and the original applicant to the XPRIZE Wildfire competition, today announced it has advanced to the finals of the Autonomous Wildfire Response Track in collaboration with its partners as Team FireSwarm Solutions. The $11 million global competition is designed to accelerate breakthrough technologies for the detection and suppression of catastrophic wildfires.
Team FireSwarm Solutions was recognized following a year of rigorous in-field testing and evaluation, earning a share of $750,000 in finalist prize funding for demonstrated technical readiness, system integration, and operational scalability. The finalists were announced at an official XPRIZE event hosted at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) headquarters in Oakland, California.
Wildfire Response as a Complete System: Working Together to Lower Barriers to Adoption
FireSwarm Solutions, together with its partners, delivers an autonomous, drone-agnostic wildfire detection and suppression platform that combines infrared sensing, swarm intelligence, and ultra-heavy-lift drones to rapidly localize and respond to fires in complex, environmentally challenging terrain.
“Our focus from day one has been operational readiness,” said FireSwarm Solutions COO, David Thanh. “Wildfires don’t wait for perfect conditions, and first responders need systems that can respond quickly, safely, and reliably. Advancing to the XPRIZE Wildfire finals validates that autonomous, coordinated aerial response is no longer a future concept.”
Advancing through rigorous evaluation and 2025 live field trials, the team progressed from 15 semifinalists to one of just five finalists, demonstrating end-to-end autonomous capability across detection, navigation, safety, suppression, and scalability.
Team FireSwarm Partners and Capabilities
FireSwarm Solutions is the solution integrator with dynamic mission planning, which enables multiple aircraft and ground sensor platforms to collect information. Our Swarm algorithm directs aircraft for early detection and suppression autonomously.
ACC Innovation ThunderWasp, a first-of-its-kind ultra-heavy-lift, jet-engine-powered quadcopter, that can pick up and drop off up to 400 kg or 100 gallons of water from natural and human-made sources. Coupled with the FireSwarm Fire Mission Kit, the Thunder Wasp attacks spot fires fully autonomously.
Trident Sensing brings their game-changing TACFIRS under-wing mounted pod, able to detect and geolocate early-stage wildfires without the use of complex and costly gimbaled cameras.
ExoDrone brings its operational experience with lower altitude, high endurance, long-range VTOL overwatch solution layer to detect at a closer range and confirm early readings.
Solaris Suborbital brings a 3rd-generation high altitude long endurance platform built for satellite sensors, running in live video mode, and provides a persistent early detection layer.
SenseNet SenseNet integrates its AI Optical and Thermal Imaging with a proprietary mesh network of climate detection sensors, to locate and track wildfires at their earliest stage. It offers physical AI for end-to-end detection, prediction, and situational awareness.
Together, these systems form a complete, autonomous wildfire response network that supports and augments human firefighting crews. Team FireSwarm’s solution aims to enable rapid, coordinated detection and response to help limit wildfire spread and reduce carbon emissions— while strengthening first responders’ ability to safeguard lives, homes, infrastructure and resources.
For more information, please visit www.xprize.org/wildfire.
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