Team Wildfire blows out wildfires with jet engines Responding to the urgent global need for effective wildfire suppression, Team Wildfire is building powerful jet engine-enabled, “hurricanes on wheels” to push back destructive fires.
Boulder, Colorado
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November 08, 2023 05:15 PM Eastern Standard Time
Boulder, CO, November 8, 2023 - (500NewsWire) -- A $3.7M seed round led by Cottonwood Tech Fund, with MUUS Climate Partners, Tim Draper, and Techstars, enables Team Wildfire to build and test game-changing technology for fighting wildfires.
Steve Wolf, Team Wildfire’s CEO, who coordinated special effects for Tom Cruise and James Cameron, is refocussing skills from the movie industry towards putting out wildfires. He's mounting jet engines with retardant injectors onto logging trucks, turning movie tech into life-saving tech. “In wildfires, the wind owns the fire. If you want to control a fire, you have to own the wind.”
Compared to observational tech such as cameras and sensors, Wolf notes that “data doesn’t douse fires,” and turned towards the obvious need… “actually putting out fires.” “High tech smoke detectors won’t help you much if you don’t have a working fire extinguisher.”
With co-founders Wildfire Commander Dan Eamon and Fire Rescue Chief Andy Amalfitano, the team is working with Oak Ridge National Labs and hot shot veterans to revolutionize wildfire suppression capabilities. Wildfires account for billions of tons of carbon emissions.
“Team Wildfire,” says Dave Blivin, Cottonwood managing partner, “brings a unique approach, applying deep expertise to a problem that affects the lives and property of millions. Their solution could become the new standard in wildfire suppression, to counter the ‘new normal’ in fires.”
Tim Draper notes, “Team Wildfire has found a crazy solution to a crazy problem. We need this now.”
“Wildfires are going from bad to worse, fast." said Greg Schwab, Chief of Boulder Rural FD. “If we don’t get powerful new tools like this quickly, we’ll have no chance against the fires coming our way. ”
Team Wildfire’s tech is designed to create fire breaks and mobile safety zones, protect evacuation routes, and directly attack fire faster, cheaper, and with less water. Next on their roadmap: Wildfire suppression AI.
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Contact Details
Jennifer Razzo
+1 512-653-9653
