Following a devastating wildfire season in the Okanagan, the City of Kelowna and Okanagan College are moving to expand the use of drones in suppression efforts. They’ve signed a memorandum of understanding with FireSwarm Solutions, a Squamish-based drone company which is developing technology to assist with wildfire suppression. “Communities and First Nations across the region and across Canada continue to face real lived risk year after year,” FireSwarm CEO and founder Alex Deslauriers said at a Tuesday news conference at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention. “FireSwarm builds autonomous drone swarm technology for wildfire suppression and emergency response. Technology built to help crews respond faster and keep people and property safe.” The parties have agreed to collaborate further to help FireSwarm expand its footprint in the Okanagan, giving a new way to monitor and suppress fires from the sky. “We have one of Canada’s fastest growing airports, established aerospace companies, strong academic partners, talented people who are passionate about this industry, and we have the ambition within our community to grow,” said Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas. Okanagan College is expected to roll out new programs to take those with existing training and give them the skills to maintain drones. “Over the coming months, we’re going to work together to design curriculum for a program that can enable aircraft maintenance engineers to build on their education,” said Okanagan College president Neil Fassina. “To be able to work on ultraheavy lift drone technology.” The deal follows a training exercise last year involving FireSwarm and the Kelowna Fire Department, which allowed the city to see how the technology works.
