Disaster experts call for more funding for new technologies to fight future fires in Australia

Firefighting drones and water gliders. AI-powered fire detection. Remote sensors, satellites and live feeds to firefighters.

It's the future of firefighting and in the wake of the catastrophic Los Angeles blazes, disaster experts are urging Australian governments to invest heavily in these new technologies.
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"One of the main things we're looking at are these scout drones, which are kind of a drone that has all these sensors on it that can see a lightning ignition as soon as it starts," [Associate Professor Roslyn Prinsley, head of the Australian National University's (ANU) Disaster Solutions team] said.

Aided by an onboard camera, the drone can fly toward a fire, pinpoint its exact location and map the impacted zone for responding ground crews.

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Water gliders are an innovative approach being tested by Dr Prinsley's team in a rural part of the ACT.

"They are essentially disposable drones that you would fill with about half a ton of water and potentially some retardant," she said.

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Dr Prinsley believes there is not much point detecting a fire quickly, unless remote technologies can extinguish it just as fast.

"That is a real big challenge," she said

"We need 100 per cent coverage of all the ignitions. And to do that, we need lots of different technologies. We can't just rely on one."

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