Beyond the Flames: The Californian Startups Shaping Wildfire Resilience
Co-authored by Donald Harmitt & Larissa Sequeira
As the Los Angeles wildfires rage — likely the costliest in U.S. history, with damages projected between $135 billion and $150 billion — the devastation underscores a sobering truth: wildfires cost the U.S. $394–$893 billion annually in damages. Suppression alone has averaged $2.9 billion per year over the past decade, with costs expected to rise by as much as 283% by the late century. Yet, prevention costs just a fraction of this staggering toll. Amid this crisis, an extraordinary wave of innovation is emerging. Startups across California are stepping up, leveraging innovative technology not just to combat wildfires but to rethink how we predict, prevent, and recover from them.
Let’s explore how these companies are changing the narrative around wildfires across three broad strategies:
- Detection & Prediction
- Suppression & Mitigation, and
- Community Resilience & Recovery.
1. Detection & Prediction: The First Line of Defense
When it comes to wildfires, every second counts. The sooner a fire is detected, the greater the likelihood of containing it before it spreads.
Eyes on the Horizon
Pano AI stands out by leveraging ultra-high-definition cameras and AI-powered systems to monitor vast landscapes in real-time. Their technology identifies fires as they ignite, instantly alerting emergency responders to enable swift containment. As Sonia Kastner, CEO of Pano AI, emphasizes, “This crisis once again underscores the harsh reality of our changing weather patterns and the urgent need to strengthen our response strategies.”
Smart Sensors, Smarter Warnings
Torch Systems takes early detection further, using sensor networks to provide ultra-early warnings, giving communities a critical edge in evacuation and preparation. Co-founder Joseph Morris explained, “Torch combines infrared, spectral analysis, gas, temperature, and AI processing into one small, inexpensive sensor, providing real-time coverage for over 300 acres.”
Delphire Inc. takes a comprehensive approach with its Sentinel FD3™ system, which integrates visual, thermal, and chemical sensors for 24/7 wildfire monitoring. This blend of sensor technologies enables round-the-clock situational awareness, offering emergency teams detailed insights into fire behaviour and progression.
Predicting Fire’s Next Move
Meanwhile, Silurian AI approaches early detection from a predictive angle. Their Generative Forecasting Transformer (GFT) models the Earth’s weather system with unprecedented accuracy, forecasting critical variables like wind speed, temperature, and precipitation. While not a direct fire detection system, Silurian’s technology can anticipate conditions conducive to wildfires, informing strategic planning for firefighting resources and even insurance underwriting.
Together, these companies highlight the multifaceted nature of wildfire detection: Pano AI ensures rapid, wide-area coverage; Torch Systems delivers localized, ultra-early warnings; Delphire Inc. provides continuous monitoring with diverse sensors; and Silurian AI offers predictive insights to guide broader decision-making. Each innovation plays a vital role in strengthening our collective defence against the escalating wildfire crisis.
2. Suppression & Mitigation: Fighting Fires and Reducing Risks
Once a wildfire ignites, containment becomes an urgent priority. California’s startups are at the forefront of innovation, deploying groundbreaking technologies to slow and stop the spread of fires while addressing the systemic challenges that fuel them.
Autonomous Response
Rain is revolutionizing aerial firefighting with autonomous aircraft designed for rapid and precise wildfire response. These uncrewed vehicles target flames with exceptional accuracy, ensuring that every drop of water or suppressant makes a meaningful impact.
Developed in collaboration with Lockheed Martin and California fire officials, Rain’s AI-powered helicopters address critical operational challenges in wildfire suppression. This includes safely enabling 24/7 night operations, enhancing safety and targeting in smoky conditions and strong winds, and significantly reducing initial attack response times by scaling prepositioned resources. Rain emphasized, “This is not some far-off dream. We have shown that the advanced technology to make autonomous aerial fire response is ready to come online.”
By upgrading existing aircraft and integrating with crewed missions, Rain demonstrates how technology can be a powerful force multiplier in expanding wildfire response capacity. Their work paves the way for safer, faster, and more efficient suppression efforts, offering a critical lifeline as fire risks grow across California.
Retardant Solutions
Clore provides innovative fire retardant solutions to help suppress wildfires more effectively. Their advanced retardants are engineered to slow the spread of flames, offering a critical line of defense in areas where suppression efforts are most challenging. Clore’s technology is designed to work in harmony with aerial and ground-based firefighting systems, enhancing the overall effectiveness of wildfire containment strategies.
Infrastructure Protection
Frontline Wildfire Defense is witnessing its technology put to the ultimate test. As of Friday afternoon, 57 homes had activated their advanced sprinkler systems, according to founder and CEO Harry Statter, with “four clear saves” where fires reached the property perimeter or came dangerously close. “Our technology has never been tested at such scale before in a wildfire,” Statter noted. Frontline’s automated sprinklers coat homes with water and firefighting foam, creating a critical barrier against the encroaching flames.
Prevention
BurnBot focuses on prevention by tackling the vegetation-to-structure interface — an area where wildfires escalate into urban disasters. Founder Anukool Lakhina explains, “The mitigation technology to prevent future disasters exists today. Once wind-driven flames breach this interface, the resulting urban conflagration completely overwhelms response capabilities.”
BurnBot’s remote-controlled machines are currently deployed to clear combustible brush, creating defensible spaces that act as firebreaks. Lakhina adds, “We cannot change the weather or where homes already are, but we can change fuel loads where we live, making destructive wildfires a thing of the past.”
Similarly, Kodama Systems uses robotics and AI to optimize forest thinning and fuel reduction. Their solutions integrate ecological stewardship with fire safety, offering scalable approaches to reducing wildfire risks.
Earth Force Technologies’s CEO Justin Dawe, whose extended family has suffered repeated losses to fires, highlights the urgency of scaling wildfire prevention efforts. “Prevention and adaptation need a 100x scale-up,” Dawe asserts. “We’re sick of this recurring, preventable nightmare.” Earth Force employs precision sensors to guide large-scale vegetation treatments, ensuring healthier, less fire-prone landscapes.
This comprehensive approach — combining high-tech solutions like Rain, BurnBot, and Frontline with accessible, on-the-ground strategies — shows that wildfire resilience is possible. The tools to adapt and protect are already here; the challenge is scaling them across communities to meet the growing threat.
3. Community Resilience & Recovery: Empowering People to Rebuild
Wildfire resilience isn’t just about cutting-edge technology; it also hinges on empowering communities to act and adapt, particularly as the fallout from fires reshapes where and how people live. The growing dilemma for affected residents: rebuild, relocate, or move on entirely. As real estate expert Josh Altman points out, “Fifty percent of the people who lived in the Palisades are not going to be moving back. It’s traumatic… waking up every morning and being reminded of what happened.” For many, the prospect of years of reconstruction, combined with insufficient insurance coverage, makes returning an impossibility.
New Approach to Insurance
Startups like Stand Insurance are reimagining the role of insurance in wildfire-prone areas. By using advanced simulations to assess risks and advise homeowners on mitigation strategies, Stand not only helps secure tailored insurance plans but also promotes proactive resilience. CEO Dan Preston sees a broader opportunity: “If homeowners and city planners embrace these mitigations proactively, it will protect communities and allow insurers to come back in and enable the private market.” Stand’s co-founder Jason Mueller underscores their commitment: “We’re working around the clock to help California homeowners mitigate property risks and secure the coverage they need, especially during these challenging times.”
The LA fires have amplified Stand’s role, with Preston noting a 5–10x surge in demand for their services. As insurers exit the state due to increasing risks, Stand aims to reimagine insurance by encouraging structural and behavioural changes, such as pruning trees, replacing wooden fencing with steel, and designing neighbourhoods with fire resilience in mind. Preston added, “We might be able to play a much larger role in the state of safety if we can work with neighbourhoods and require homeowners and city officials to design neighbourhoods to be more resilient.”
Preparing Communities
On a community level, Fire Aside tackles collective preparedness. Their software evaluates defensible spaces, manages fuel reduction, and connects neighborhoods with grants for mitigation projects. These efforts not only make communities safer but also foster a sense of shared responsibility.
Felt, a cloud-native GIS platform, plays a critical role in providing real-time wildfire data. By enabling communities and organizations to visualize and share data, Felt can facilitate effective planning and faster response efforts during wildfire events.
Altman’s insight about the emotional and financial toll of wildfires highlights the urgency of these efforts. For many displaced families, the decision to stay or leave is driven by trauma, insurance gaps, and the daunting prospect of rebuilding. As Altman notes, “Majority of the people were heavily uninsured… They’re not going to be able to afford to recreate the house they lived in.”
By combining innovative technology with accessible solutions, these startups aim to mitigate these challenges. Stand Insurance, Fire Aside, and Felt exemplify how wildfire resilience requires not just tools and technology, but also a deep understanding of human behavior and community rebuilding. As Preston notes, “This is our chance to level up our ambitions and create a future where communities are truly resilient against wildfire threats.”
The Role of Venture Capital: Funding Innovation for a Safer Future
Tackling the escalating wildfire crisis requires not only groundbreaking ideas but also significant financial backing.
“Yet adaptation-focused financing so far isn’t enough. The world’s demand for adaptation and resilience solutions exceeds $1.4 trillion annually, according to Tailwind Climate, a Berkeley, California-based advisory and investment firm. Of all the funding deployed in global climate tech startups during the period from 2019 to 2023, only $4.5 billion, or 3% of the total, went to adaptation, Tailwind says.”
Venture capital is playing a pivotal role in accelerating the development and deployment of innovative solutions. Convective Capital, a wildfire-focused VC firm, exemplifies this commitment by recently raising $75 million for their second fund — doubling their initial fund size. This milestone reflects growing confidence in the wildfire technology sector as a critical area of investment.
Convective Capital’s portfolio includes trailblazing companies such as Rain, WindBorne, and Rhizome, all of which are working to transform how wildfires are detected, suppressed, and mitigated. As Convective notes, “Preventing and mitigating wildfires has expanded beyond a niche investment sector to become a critical area of focus.”
The influx of capital from firms like Convective enables startups to scale their technologies more rapidly, reducing costs and increasing accessibility to their solutions. This collaboration between VCs and innovators drives the wildfire tech ecosystem forward, ensuring that the tools needed to combat wildfires are not just created but effectively deployed. As California and other fire-prone regions face growing risks, venture capital is proving to be a cornerstone of resilience-building.
A Collective Fight: Integrating Solutions for Resilience
From sensors in the sky to sprinklers on the ground, these startups are proof that innovation thrives even in crisis. But the wildfire challenge is too big for any one company — or government — to solve alone.
“This crisis once again underscores the harsh reality of our changing weather patterns and the urgent need to strengthen our response strategies. There is no one silver bullet to this problem. Public and private sectors, along with communities, must come together to drive change on all fronts: more fire fighting personnel, more technology tools and equipment for the fire fighting community, more controlled burning and forest management, more policy changes, and more awareness. The stakes are simply too high to delay action.” — Sonia Kastner, CEO @ Pano AI
By integrating these solutions into a cohesive strategy, LA has the potential to not just survive its wildfires but redefine how we live with them.
As the fires burn, the question remains: How can we better support these innovators and scale their solutions? The answer lies in investment, collaboration, and a collective commitment to resilience.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article!
Wildfires are a critical issue, and we appreciate your interest in learning about the innovators working to build a safer, more resilient future.
If you’d like to connect or discuss these ideas further, feel free to reach out to us on LinkedIn: Donald Harmitt & Larissa Sequeira.
