Wildfire Innovation Competition Awards $500,000 Prize for Satellite Fire Detection System

UK-based SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance won the $500,000 first-place prize for developing a system that combines optical and radar data from satellites to identify wildfires and model their potential spread.

The $250,000 second-place prize went to Team Snuffed, based in Arizona. According to the competition’s press release, the team created a “transparent, auditable, and uncertainty-aware wildfire detection” system that is particularly easy for firefighters to use.

Florida-based MyRadar, Louisiana-based DeepFire, and Germany’s Mayday.AI each received a $100,000 special recognition award. Mayday.AI adapted an algorithm originally designed to detect volcanic ash so it could identify wildfire smoke hidden by clouds.

From wildfire detection to autonomous drone response

Detecting a wildfire quickly is only part of the challenge. Firefighting resources must also reach the scene quickly enough to prevent the fire from spreading. The finalists put their technology to the test with autonomous wildfire response systems.

The teams typically used ground sensors and, in some cases, drones to monitor wildfires across a 386-square-mile area in Alaska—roughly the size of California’s San Francisco Bay Area or Texas’ San Antonio. The testing area was located in the sparsely developed rural landscape of Nenana, near Fairbanks, in June 2026.

When a high-risk fire was detected, each team launched its own type of firefighting drone. The drones flew to the fire and attempted to extinguish it.

All three finalists detected a high-risk fire within 10 minutes. Two teams deployed a drone to attack the main fire, but none was able to completely extinguish it. As a result, the Grand Prix remained out of reach on this track as well.

Learn more about the finalists’ autonomous wildfire response technology.