In short
- Drones that carry water or agent can cool a hot spot or knock down a small fire.
- Heavy-lift drones with buckets or tanks are being tested on wildfires.
- No drone puts out a burning building on its own. The limits are payload and flight time.
- The most useful thing a drone does at a fire today is help firefighters see it.
What can firefighting drones do to a fire?
- Find it. A thermal camera shows the seat of the fire, hot spots and people in the open through most smoke. This is what most fire service drones do today. Can drones see through smoke?
- Cool a point. A drone with a tank or a hose fed from the ground can put water or agent on a hot spot, a small fire or a place a ladder cannot reach.
- Drop on a wildfire. Heavy-lift drones with water buckets are being built to plan their own pickups and drops and to fly at night or in low visibility, when crewed helicopters can be unsafe to fly1. Suppression-capable drones are listed at about $14,000 to $84,000 per aircraft, or sold on multi-year contracts3.
- Check after the fire. Look for hot spots that could rekindle.
Why can't one drone put out a fire?
Because a fire needs far more water than a small aircraft can carry, for far longer than it can fly.
- Payload. A small drone carries litres. In one study, 120 drones carrying 20 litres each on a six minute loop delivered about 400 litres a minute together2, which is in the range of a single hose line.
- Flight time. Battery drones that lift a heavy load fly for about 7 to 10 minutes, a heavy-lift drone maker told ASCE in 20251.
- Refill gaps. When a single aircraft leaves to refill, the fire is unattended until it comes back.
- The agent. What works on burning wood is not what works on a fuel or electrical fire, and one aircraft carries one agent.
The way around these limits is rotation: several aircraft working in turns, so a full one arrives as an empty one leaves. That is a firefighting drone swarm.
Can drones put out wildfires?
Not alone, and not yet at scale. In a published study, putting out about 70 metres of active front of a low-intensity fire took 60 to 120 small drones flying in rotation, depending on wind and payload2. Large or fast fires still need crews, engines, crewed aircraft and mop-up on the ground. Drones help most with mapping, night work, spot fires and hot spots.
Can a drone put out a house fire?
No. A house fire is fought from inside and from the ground, by crews with hose lines, ladders and breathing apparatus. A drone can show the crew where the fire is, who is at a window or on the roof, and which way the fire is moving, before the engine stops. In some designs it can also cool the fire from outside to buy the crew time.
Does Caligo C360 put out fires?
No. Firefighters put the fire out. Caligo C360 is a firefighting drone swarm designed to see the fire, slow it and stay on it:
- See it. Thermal and visible cameras give the crew the seat of the fire and the people a camera outside can see.
- Slow it. On the officer's word, a ring of aircraft cools the fire from outside until the crew goes in.
- Stay on it. A standby aircraft takes the slot of one that runs dry, so the ring is designed not to stop for a refill.
A single-aircraft demonstrator flies today with thermal perception and hotspot alerting. The ring and the relay are validated in simulation, and how much fire a ring of aircraft can check has not been measured yet.
Questions
Can drones put out fires?
Some can help on small fires and from outside. Drones that carry water or agent can cool a hot spot or knock down a small fire, and heavy-lift drones are being tested on wildfires. No drone today puts out a burning building on its own; firefighters do.
Can a drone put out a house fire?
Not on its own. A small drone carries litres, not the hundreds of litres a minute a single hose line delivers, and its flight time is short. What a drone can do at a house fire is show the crew where the fire is and, in some designs, cool it from outside until the crew is ready.
Can drones put out wildfires?
Heavy-lift drones with buckets are being tested on wildfires, and research models suggest that large fleets could contain small, low-intensity fires. They support crews and aircraft; they do not replace them or the mop-up afterwards.
What do firefighting drones spray?
Water, foam or other agents, depending on the fire. The agent has to match the risk: what works on burning wood is not what works on a fuel or electrical fire.
Does Caligo C360 put out fires?
No. Firefighters put the fire out. Caligo C360 is designed to show the crew where the fire is and who needs reaching, and, on the officer's word, to cool the fire from outside until the crew goes in. How much fire a ring of aircraft can check has not been measured yet.
Sources
- American Society of Civil Engineers. “Automated aerial firefighting drones to provide faster responses.” Civil Engineering Source, 24 July 2025. asce.org
- Ausonio, E., Bagnerini, P. and Ghio, M. “Drone swarms in fire suppression activities.” 2020. arxiv.org
- Drone Launch Academy. “Firefighting Drones: Uses, Costs and How to Fly One (2026).” 18 August 2026. dronelaunchacademy.com
