Drones could take on bigger role in future wildfire firefighting

Kelowna is looking to strengthen its position as a Western Canadian hub for aerospace and drone technology through a new partnership involving the City of Kelowna, FireSwarm Solutions and Okanagan College.

The formal partnerships were announced Tuesday at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in Vancouver.

The collaboration comes after another difficult wildfire season in the Okanagan and builds on previous efforts to test automated drones for wildfire response.

“Kelowna is ready to help lead the next chapter of aerospace and drone innovation in Canada,” Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas said.

At the centre of the partnership is automated drone-swarm technology, which is being developed to support wildfire suppression in situations where crews and conventional aircraft may be limited by dangerous conditions or stretched resources.

“We see a need for drone autonomy to come into this space and be able to do similar work that’s currently being done by crewed helicopters, but taking the human out of the cockpit to ensure that machines are taking the risk of picking up water and dropping it off on fires,” said Alex Deslauriers, CEO of FireSwarm Solutions.

In 2025, FireSwarm partnered with the Kelowna Fire Department to demonstrate the technology on Knox Mountain. Smaller versions of the drones were tested during an integrated training exercise.

FireSwarm says larger autonomous aircraft capable of carrying significant amounts of water are now approaching the market.

“Machines that are able to pick up 350 kilograms of water autonomously are just about to enter the market now, so we, as FireSwarm Solutions, are working on the autonomy stack to enable these ultra-heavy lifters to do that work,” Deslauriers said.

There is no timeline yet for the drones to become part of firefighting operations. Further government and private-sector investment will be needed as the technology develops.

The partnership also has an education and workforce-development component.

Okanagan College is already expanding its aerospace-related programming and is building a new training hangar at Kelowna International Airport. The facility is expected to provide space for programs connected to avionics, uncrewed aerial systems and aerospace manufacturing.

The college and FireSwarm plan to work together on curriculum that could train aircraft maintenance engineers to work on ultra-heavy-lift drone technology.

“We’re going to work together to design curriculum for a program that can enable aircraft maintenance engineers to build on their education to be able to work on ultra-heavy-lift drone technology,” said Okanagan College president Neil Fassina. “This program doesn’t exist anywhere in this country. We will be the first to build it.”

The initiative builds on an established aerospace industry at YLW, which includes KF Aerospace and other aviation-related businesses.

FireSwarm, which is based in Squamish, says the partnerships will help expand its operations in the Interior and could create new jobs at YLW.

The company, the City of Kelowna and Okanagan College say the agreements are intended as a starting point for longer-term collaboration involving industry, education and government.