Fighting wildfire is a lot like waging war. There are foot soldiers and paratrooper-like smokejumpers, air support from airtankers, and mobile centers that can direct firefighter movements in the field.
“It’s a battlefield,” Gadi Benjamini, co-founder and CEO of FireDome, told TechCrunch. “It changes, it’s dynamic, it’s unexpected.”
But what firefighters have been missing is artillery support. That’s what FireDome hopes to provide in the coming fire seasons.
The company’s technology resembles Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which identifies, tracks, and destroys incoming rockets. The source of inspiration isn’t surprising. Benjamini worked for over a decade in intelligence in the Israeli Defense Forces, including a recent stint in the reserves working to free hostages held by Hamas.
FireDome’s system works in much the same way as Iron Dome: There’s a tracking system, which in this case is a camera coupled with a computer that keeps watch for embers or small fires; and there’s a launcher, which hurls fire retardant-filled projectiles that open before impact to disperse their contents.
The goal is to protect vulnerable assets from wildfire before it strikes. The system can create a barrier by launching a series of fire retardant-filled capsules filled to surround a medium-sized patch of land, something on the order of a neighborhood, resort, or vineyard. It can also attempt to extinguish small fires before they turn into large ones by launching the 12-gallon capsules at hotspots.
The company’s first version will be able to launch capsules up to a quarter mile out. Depending on the topography, one launcher can cover 50 to 100 acres. Later versions will be able to cover a one-mile radius, or a few hundred acres, Benjamini said. The capsules are biodegradable, and Benjamini envisions reusing the sensors embedded within them, which can be recovered by cleanup crews.
California vineyards are a likely first customer. They produce high value crops, but they’re often a lower priority for Cal Fire than homes or neighborhoods. “I was in California, visited some vineyards in Napa and Sonoma, and they told me it was a huge fire, and no one came to protect us,” Benjamini said about a trip he took two weeks ago. “Which is understandable, because firefighters go to the value at risk, being human lives. That’s the first priority.”
Insurance companies are also on FireDome’s radar. “We don’t want to get in a situation where we use insurance,” he said. “We have to find solutions that help our communities reduce the premiums.”
Benjamini and co-founder Adi Naor Pomerantz founded FireDome earlier this year and operated in stealth until now. The company exclusively told TechCrunch that it has raised a $3 million pre-seed round led by Third Sphere and Gravity Climate with participation from Atooro Fund, Caesar Fund, and Vertex Ventures. Benjamini said the first FireDome launchers should see action later in the 2025-2026 fire season.