Fireswarm Solutions
Tell us about your business and why you should receive this award!
FireSwarm Solutions Inc. — Business Innovation Award Submission
We fly when others can't.
FireSwarm Solutions Inc. is a Squamish-based company pioneering autonomous drone systems for wildfire response, emergency logistics, and forest management. Co-founded by three local residents, Alex Deslauriers, David Thanh, and Melanie Bitner, FireSwarm was born from firsthand experience with the devastation of wildfire and a shared commitment to preventing others from enduring the same loss.
In 2023, two of FireSwarm's co-founders lost their multigenerational family home in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District to wildfire. Standing amid the ashes of everything familiar, our team learned firsthand that when wildfire shows up on your doorstep, help might not arrive. Wildfire remains one of the least transformed sectors in emergency management. Crews are still grounded at night, and valuable hours are lost when fires burn unchecked due to low visibility and lack of resources. We saw an urgent need for tools that could help responders act faster, smarter, and safer.
That was the spark for FireSwarm, a solution built for rapid, highly scalable response in the face of escalating climate-driven threats.
FireSwarm is developing technology to coordinate fleets of autonomous, heavy-lift drones capable of operating day and night. Each drone functions as part of a “swarm,” suppressing incipient-stage fires and providing crews with logistics support, all while sharing real-time data and leveraging machine learning to improve effectiveness. The system is designed to integrate with existing wildfire and emergency management workflows, offering a new level of precision, speed, and safety.
What makes FireSwarm truly innovative is its multi-purpose design. Our technology can transition from wildfire suppression to reforestation, remote logistics, or emergency supply delivery. Our mission is not only to fight fires but also to build resilience—before and after they strike.
Our innovation extends beyond technology. FireSwarm is reimagining how public and private sectors collaborate to manage shared risks. We're actively working with Indigenous communities, municipalities, and forestry operators to ensure our platform respects data sovereignty, supports local capacity building, and aligns with community-driven fire and emergency management goals.
In less than two years, FireSwarm has secured funding through NorthX Climate Tech, formerly the BC Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) and remain only one of 15 semifinalists of the $11 million XPRIZE Wildfire—one of the world's largest global competitions for wildfire innovation. We've also successfully graduated from the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Climate Stream, a program that mentors science-based startups positioned to scale globally.
FireSwarm exemplifies what it means to innovate with purpose. Our roots in Squamish ground us in a community that values sustainability, collaboration, and action. Our experience of loss fuels a relentless drive to create solutions that save lives, protect ecosystems, and secure the future of communities like ours.
Receiving the Business Innovation Award would recognizes our team's technological achievements in the spirit of resilience and collaboration that defines FireSwarm—a company built in Squamish, for the world, to fight fire safely with intelligence and automation.
