Fighting Fires Directly
Need to fight a high-rise fire far above the reach of ground- based fire engines? Then it’s time to call in EHang drones like the company’s EH216-F to battle flames from the air.
“As urbanization accelerates, the heights and density of buildings increase fire hazards, making traditional firefighting methods such as rescue ladders less effective,” said Tian Xing He, EHang’s vice president. “The EH216-F was specifically created to tackle these difficult situations, offering significant advantages for high-rise fire response.”
The EH216-F can operate at a maximum altitude of 600 meters/1,969 feet, making its height parameters suitable for fighting high-rise building fires. The drone can carry up to 100 liters/26 gallons of firefighting foam and six fire extinguisher projectiles per flight.
The EH216-F uses an onboard visible-light zoom camera to detect fires precisely, it has a laser-aiming device for targeting, and it can drop window breakers and fire-extinguishing projectiles onto targets. Multiple EH216-Fs can be deployed simultaneously while being controlled with EHang’s proprietary command-and-control system, which allies for centralized management and quick coordination during emergencies.
“In practical terms, the EH216-F has been deployed in high- rise fire rescue drills and has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing response time and preventing casualties,” Tian Xing He said. “It complements traditional firefighting methods, and can be deployed to assist firefighters within a three-kilometer radius of the station. All EHang eVTOLs feature the full redundancy design, which means that all components have their backup systems. Even in the case of special situations, such as power loss and GPS signal loss, the eVTOL still keeps a stable attitude and safe flight, and performs accurate firefighting normally.”
Another option for direct autonomous aircraft firefighting is an uncrewed Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter equipped with Sikorsky’s Matrix flight autonomy software and Rain Industries’ autonomous aerial wildfire containment technology. The two have been working together to prove this technology through numerous demonstrations, such as an October 2024 flight that executed three successful Bambi Bucket water drops.
“There are three main components to Rain’s technology,” said Rain CEO Maxwell Brodie. “The first is the Rain mission control tablet that allows for the autonomy supervisor to supervise and receive sub-second mission data on Rain-equipped aircraft. The second is Rain network control
that ingests ignition
locations and dispatches the aircraft, relays mission data between the aircraft and the human supervisor, and generates mission plans for approval. The third component is a mission computer on board the aircraft with Rain software that allows it to generate suppression plans and autonomously target and suppress wildfires.”
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Sikorsky’s Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter with Rain’s wildfire mission autonomy system hovers near a test fire during fire localization and targeting demonstrations at Sikorsky headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut. Rain and Sikorsky are collaborating to explore how Sikorsky’s Matrix autonomy suite operating with Rain’s wildfire mission autonomy system can launch uncrewed helicopters to drop water on wildfires within minutes of detection. Photo: Rain
Rain is working to transition its autonomous aerial firefighting technology into service in collaboration with leading fire agencies, Brodie said. “Over the past few years, Rain has demonstrated on several occasions the ability to rapidly and autonomously suppress test fires with a Rain and Sikorsky Matrix-equipped autonomous Black Hawk helicopter,” he said. “We are excited to familiarize, train and operationalize our autonomous wildfire response technology in support of fire professionals.”
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