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Support XPRIZE Wildfire, a competition to radically reinvent how we detect and suppress destructive wildfires.
Active Teams
XPRIZE Wildfire’s independent judging panel has selected 41 Qualified Teams from 10 countries around the world to advance to the next round of the XPRIZE Wildfire on the two competition Tracks – Space-Based Detection & Intelligence (Track A) and/or Autonomous Wildfire Response Track (Track B).
To learn more about the competing teams, click on a team name below.
Space-Based Teams (Track A)
Track A Team Book (PDF)
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| About the Team | Team | City | Country | Country flag | Website(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepFire | Baton Rouge | United States | |||
| DeepFire’s system is a combination of an AI-based wildfire prediction system and an AI-based wildfire detection system that interact synergistically. The detection system uses predictive risk maps to increase or decrease confidence in detections it is unsure of. The detector can forward information on current fires to a predictive model to predict future behavior, such as danger level, speed, direction of spread, etc. Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Professor of AI at LSU, leads the team. Previously, he led a team to the semifinal of the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE. Other team members include Dr. Robert Dibiano, Richard Barbalace, Dylan Wichman, and Matt Braun. | |||||
| Ember Guard | Palo Alto | United States | |||
| Ember Guard’s approach fuses low- to high-resolution satellite data with atmospheric conditions and social media. Using deep learning along with LLM and AI techniques to detect wildfires, a scalable cloud-based high-resolution wildfire model forecasts the likely propagation and intensity of a given wildfire so that firefighters can prioritize their limited resources. Ember Guard is a cross-disciplinary team led by a high school sophomore along with materials scientists, entrepreneurs, wildfire-focused atmospheric modeling experts, mathematicians, and senior research scientists. | |||||
| Fire Eye | Hillsboro | United States | |||
| Fire Eye employs multiply-sourced hyperspectral image analysis within existing infrastructure for cloud computation and ground control stations. The system uses ensemble models to predict fires and their behavior. Multiple communication channels for effective information dispersal. Team Fire Eye is a veteran in first responder-based research and development with extensive expertise in computational vision algorithm development, aerospace sciences, and communication protocols. | |||||
| Generative Intelligence | Mijas | Spain | |||
| Generative Intelligence leverages a cascading AI system to first identify high-probability fire zones by integrating satellite imagery and historical, climatic, and terrain data. High-risk areas undergo detailed analysis using cutting-edge AI to pinpoint fires, monitor spread, and evaluate impact, enabling swift emergency response. This scalable and adaptable solution can incorporate new data sources and expand to new areas. Generative Intelligence joins forces with top satellite companies to revolutionize firefighting. With cutting-edge AI and a personal stake in fire-prone Andalusia, Generative Intelligence is driven to save lives and land. | |||||
| MyRadar | Orlando | United States | https://myradar.com/ | ||
| MyRadar specializes in building AI technology and robust data pipelines to deliver data, visualizations, and environmental alerts. Their patented miniaturized satellite technology uses spectral imagers and onboard AI optimizations to enable rapid alerting for environmental hazards, such as wildfires. The team’s mission is to democratize real-time information that allows better, more risk-informed decisions, and a constellation of satellites will provide data and alerting toward this goal. MyRadar is a technology company that builds situational awareness products trusted by millions of customers. The satellite team consists of several dedicated engineers and subject matter experts. | |||||
| Orbital Sidekick | San Francisco | United States | https://www.orbitalsidekick.com/ | ||
| Orbital Sidekick will use a combination of hyperspectral and multispectral satellite images which allow speciation of vegetative materials and detection of combustion. Orbital Sidekick’s GHOSt constellation currently consists of six satellites, five of which are already in orbit and acquiring data, with seven in development. Orbital Sidekick is building the most advanced constellation of hyperspectral satellites with unmatched global monitoring capacity through its spatial and spectral resolution. Orbital Sidekick’s XPRIZE team consists of hyperspectral imaging and data scientists as well as payload engineers, technical leaders, product managers, and UI/UX designers. | |||||
| Redback Fire Team | Melbourne | Australia | |||
| Redback Fire Team proposes a two-phase, integrated and robust solution to wildfire surveillance and characterization. Phase 1 aims to detect wildfires within one minute using a constellation of EO sensors. The algorithm is tailored to accommodate geographical, seasonal, and diurnal variations. This module is currently operational in Australia, delivering hotspot notifications within 20-45 seconds. Phase 2 accurately characterizes fire detections and behavior using a hybrid-model approach within 10 minutes. Redback Fire Team is composed of members from RMIT University & Covey Associates PTY LTD, bringing together expertise in wildfire detection and attribution, and fire behavior & modeling. | |||||
| SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance | London | United Kingdom | https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/sirius-wildfire-alliance/ | ||
| SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance will deliver high-resolution wildfire nowcasting and forecasting by integrating Earth Observations, AI, GIS, a cutting-edge wildfire spread model and a unique combination of ground and space-edge computing. By leveraging onboard computations and efficient telemetry, SIRIUS can employ advanced but typically time-consuming techniques for granular spread and false positive detection, provide early information for emergency response, and recommend efficient firefighting resource allocations. SIRIUS brings together young engineers, established academics, researchers in top universities, ambitious startups from the UK and Australia, and wildfire management professionals. | |||||
| Snuffed | Flagstaff | United States | |||
| Snuffed proposes a “string of pearls” constellation of 90 micro-satellites or CubeSats in low Earth orbit (LEO). The orbital period in LEO is 90 minutes, so one unit in Snuffed’s constellation passes over a given ground location once per minute. The team’s rapid detection strategy, when fully implemented, has the potential to reduce these costs and damages enormously. This is a game-changing advance in humanity’s approach to combating wildfires. The Snuffed XPRIZE Wildfire Team currently has 25 engineers, scientists, firefighting and fire management experts, students, and private sector industry professionals. | |||||
| Mayday (Guardian Space) | Darmstadt | Germany | https://mayday.ai/ | ||
| Mayday’s solution combines real-time global wildfire detection and monitoring with early warning access for all, providing community-centric solutions. Mayday boasts seasoned specialists in wildfire surveillance, disaster management, and cutting-edge remote sensing technologies. | |||||
| Woolpert DI Cloud Geo Team | Dayton | United States | https://innovations.woolpert.com/ | ||
| The Woolpert DI solution is based on the orchestration of several models and satellite sources through different phases: early risk assessment, rapid fire detection, fire characterization, and operational delivery. Forecasting models, computer vision, deep learning, and first-principles models will be deployed alongside a variety of public and commercial satellite sources. The overall workflow will be automated into a platform designed to send operational insights and alerts to relevant stakeholders. Woolpert DI is a team of remote sensing scientists, cloud engineers, AI/ML experts, and environmental scientists that build scalable models and analytical platforms based on Earth Observations and AI. | |||||
Autonomous Teams (Track B)
Track B Team Book (PDF)
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| About the Team | Team | City | Country | Country flag | Website(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AeroWatch | Barcelona | Spain | https://aerowatch.tech/ | ||
| The AeroWatch team is an international consortium promoted by BCN Drone Center and CTTC, both with over a decade of experience in developing innovative solutions for first responders. The goal is to bring together diverse perspectives to enable the effective deployment and scalability of these technologies. Our consortium members offer commercial solutions already in use for emergency response, which we are now integrating into a system-of-systems approach. This integrated solution is currently being developed and validated as part of the XPRIZE Wildfire Challenge. | |||||
| Agni | Dresden | Germany | https://trid-systems.com/agni | ||
| Team Agni brings together the know-how of TRID Systems and the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau (TH Wildau). Team Agni focuses on autonomous UAV systems and data analysis, while TH Wildau provides expertise in designing, manufacturing, and integrating UAVs. Their system comprises two types of autonomous UAVs working in a coordinated swarm. The first type includes fuel-powered jets designed to cover vast areas. These are equipped with RGB and infrared cameras, coupled with AI for fast and precise detection of smoke, fires, and other environmental factors. The second type consists of large copters capable of carrying substantial loads, such as water, for direct delivery to the detected fires. Team Agni is also supported by Harald Müller Metall-Sonderfertigung GmbH and Meshmerize. | |||||
| Anduril | Costa Mesa | U.S.A | https://www.anduril.com/ | ||
| Anduril is a defense technology company founded in 2017, combining Silicon Valley talent with veteran experience to develop software-defined solutions for critical missions. With over 6,000 employees in offices worldwide, Anduril is at the forefront of designing software and hardware solutions that merge autonomy with commercial technologies. The company is dedicated to R&D, rapidly deploying AI/ML capabilities, and has established a track record of delivering integrated solutions in operational settings. The Anduril team is focused on deploying the Lattice OS core—a platform harnessing sensor fusion and workflow automation. This group is adept in data-driven operations, MLOps, and secure computing, leveraging commercial tech against real-world challenges. Open to partnerships, Anduril aims to contribute Lattice OS to the XPRIZE Wildfire challenge, offering an AI-enabled, open platform that promotes rapid prototyping, prevents data lock-in, and facilitates third-party innovation for dynamic command and control solutions. | |||||
| Crossfire | College Park | U.S.A. | https://crossfire.umd.edu | ||
| Headquartered at the University of Maryland, College Park, Team Crossfire was formed in 2023 as a multi-departmental collaboration between the UMD Aerospace and Fire Protection Engineering departments, xFoundry, the MATRIX Lab, and the UROC. Our core mission is to develop a scalable, autonomous UAV system that rapidly detects, localizes, and suppresses incipient wildfires. Our framework utilizes scout UAVs for wide-area surveillance and specialized “Firejumper” UAVs for precision suppression, leveraging an advanced AI-driven fusion of thermal and RGB data to ensure high accuracy and eliminate false positives. Key milestones include the development of our core operational framework, the ‘Fire Process Chain,’ which integrates autonomous detection, localization, and suppression. This framework was validated by a successful end-to-end field test in March 2025. This live-fire demonstration proved our system’s ability to autonomously detect and localize fires using fused sensor data and accurately deliver a suppressant payload, establishing the real-world viability of our technology. | |||||
| Data Blanket | Bellevue | U.S.A. | https://www.datablanket.com | ||
| Data Blanket, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, launched in March 2022. The team’s core mission is to harness advanced AI and autonomous drone technology to support firefighters and first responders, providing real-time situational awareness and engagement over wildfires and other dangerous environments to save lives and protect communities. | |||||
| Dryad | Eberswalde | Germany | https://www.dryad.net | ||
| Dryad is an environmental IoT startup founded in 2020, based in Berlin. Its mission is to develop technologies that protect people, wildlife and infrastructure from destructive wildfires. The fully industrialized Dryad Silvanet system includes AI-enabled and solarpowered gas sensors to detect wildfires as early as the smouldering phase and relay data and alerts over a solar-powered mesh network infrastructure embedded in the forest. Paired with the already demonstrated Silvaguard reconnaissance UAV and suppression UAVs, Dryad offers a comprehensive solution aiming to detect, locate, and extinguish wildfires within minutes from ignition. | |||||
| Ember Flash Aerospace | Santa Cruz | U.S.A. | https://www.emberflash.com | ||
| Ember Flash develops advanced unmanned air systems and integrates data analytics and decision-making tools to enhance situational awareness for disaster response. Ember Flash Aerospace was formed to bring new technologies to the frontline of wildfire mitigation and response. The team is constituted of a community-driven group of technical experts, business leaders, and first responders who are intimately aware of the impact that disasters and wildfires have on communities—and the challenges responders face in effectively managing them. | |||||
| Fire Foresight | Hobart | Australia | https://fireforesight.com/ | ||
| Fire Foresight is headquartered in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and was launched in 2023. Its core mission is to revolutionize early wildfire detection and response using advanced AI, real-time sensor networks, and integrated situational awareness tools. The team aims to provide communities, utilities, and land managers with timely, actionable information to prevent catastrophic fire impacts. | |||||
| FireSwarm Solutions | Squamish | Canada | https://www.fireswarmsolutions.com | ||
| FireSwarm Solutions is based in Squamish, BC, Canada. The company was launched in 2023, following the worst wildfire season Canada has experienced thus far, with a mission to protect values at risk through the use of heavy-lift drone swarms deployed locally for nighttime response, aiming to protect high-risk communities and high-value industrial critical assets. FireSwarm Solutions has executed pilot projects with municipal fire departments, and the launch customer has received an SFOC, allowing the ThunderWasp to operate in Canada. System integration between FireSwarm software and the ThunderWasp is scheduled to occur in early July 2025. | |||||
| FlameJackets | Atlanta | U.S.A. | https://sites.gatech.edu/wildfire/ | ||
| FlameJackets operates at the Georgia Institute of Technology with additional testing at Cobra AERO in Michigan since September 2023. Georgia Tech ranks #1 in the US for research spending among institutions without a medical school, and all engineering programs are ranked in the top 10 by US News. The team has completed key deliverables, such as demonstration of heavy payload lift (24 lb payload, 50 lbs total), payload carrier design and automation, route planning and automated piloting, sensor evaluations and gimbal, neural network fire detection using optical imaging, false positive elimination algorithms, and engine mounting with electrical interface. | |||||
| FLARE-X | U.S.A. / UK | https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/ | |||
| FLARE-X launched in October 2023 as a partnership between the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southampton and has since expanded to include the University of Edinburgh and Texas A&M Forest Service, as well as spinning up AIVE AI Systems to commercialize the solution. The core mission is to revolutionize rapid response to active wildfires with intelligent drone fleets. The team brings together leading minds from top research institutions across geophysics, fire science, aerospace engineering, robotics, and AI. To date, they have developed and demonstrated core capabilities of their end-to-end solution and secured initial industry investment. | |||||
| Pyr-Stop | Bristol | United Kingdom | |||
| The Pyr-Stop team came together in 2023 with a singular mission: to end the devastation caused by wildfires through fast, intelligent, and autonomous response systems. Headquartered in Bristol, UK, Pyr-Stop was built on the belief that with the right technology, wildfires can be detected early and extinguished before they escalate. The team has completed feasibility assessments, simulated performance against fire models, developed autonomous mission capabilities, and targeted extinguishant release on a scaled-down platform. They have partnered with Probotek to achieve a truly end-to-end solution, from detection to response. | |||||
| RAINDROPS | Trondheim | Norway | |||
| A student-led collaboration between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Norway) and Brigham Young University (BYU, USA), RAINDROPS envisions a solution that combines two classes of UAS, namely those tasked with observation and fire detection and those tasked with fire suppression, for a systemof-systems approach to enable scalable wildfire response across geographical environments. | |||||
| Wildfire Quest | San Jose | U.S.A. | https://www.vcs.net/amse-xprize/wildfire | ||
| Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, Team Wildfire Quest is comprised of students from Valley Christian High School (VCHS) who share a passion for solving the global issue of wildfires. As the fifth VCHS team to enter an XPRIZE competition, Wildfire Quest is determined to follow and surpass the trail blazed by past teams, including Ocean Quest, winners of the $800,000 NOAA Bonus Prize and the youngest XPRIZE Finalists in history. Wildfire Quest has made it its goal to efficiently and effectively put out wildfires while also protecting the communities and wildlife around them. Since the team’s founding, Wildfire Quest has successfully developed a prototype solution under the guidance of industry professionals, including team advisors, potential company partners, fire department chiefs, and other relevant experts. | |||||
| Aura / Windracers Environmental | Southampton | United Kingdom | https://hauertlab.com/sabine-hauert/ | ||
| Team AURA brings together a consortium of the University of Bristol, University of Sheffield and Lancashire Fire and Rescue Services, all based in the United Kingdom. The team has been working together through various projects since 2022, with the mission of developing new technology that can improve firefighters’ capabilities when it comes to handling wildfires. The core mission is to implement swarms of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to automate and improve monitoring of wildfire-prone areas and use these UAVs to perform early detection of wildfires and suppress them before they grow out of control. The team has achieved significant success in demonstrating the capabilities of each subsystem, with documented results in control and coordination of swarms of UAVs, using AI-based computer vision algorithms for detecting wildfires as well as performing aerial suppression of fire. | |||||