Israel’s FireDome Wildfire Defense System May Offer Hope For California

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

LOS ANGELES/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – With much of the U.S. state of California resembling a war zone due to deadly wildfire, a “wildfire defense system” may be on the way from Israel.

Modeled on the Jewish nation’s famed “Iron Dome” air defense system, its firefighting equivalent is called FireDome, Israeli officials confirmed Tuesday.

FireDome co-founder and CEO Gadi Benjamini explained that it pairs defense tactics with artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

“What we develop is a system to enhance firefighters’ abilities and capabilities to address more fires simultaneously, like spot fires and embers, and to reach places where sometimes they can’t, due to different logistics constraints that they have,” Benjamini added, published remarks.

He said the system would improve “a war” to fight wildfires, where there are the firefighters, which are the ‘infantry.’

“There are [also] airplanes, but darkness makes it harder to fly during the night and also during strong winds, and what we develop is a kind of artillery support,” Benjamini told The Times of Israel online newspaper. “The biggest challenge in the climate tech area are wildfires, and more specifically, the reaction to wildfires, because many companies focus on detection.”

The autonomous patent-pending system is designed to detect and suppress fires and provide two layers of protection.

APPROACHING AREA

In response to the fire department’s alert that a wildfire is approaching an area, a mechanical stationary launcher releases capsules similar to projectiles that open before impact to disperse eco-friendly fire-retardant, creating a protective barrier and blocking the path of encroaching wildfires. Second, an AI-powered system leveraging computer vision and sensor technology detects and extinguishes spot fires caused by airborne embers that bypass the primary barrier, officials said.

“The smart capsules contain sensors that allow us to program the specific location in which they open up, disperse the material in the air above the ground, and create a kind of dome protection around the property or asset, so if a fire approaches, it will block it, and we have the second layer to identify and react to spot fires that are ignited by drifting embers,” explained Benjamini. “Eventually, the property remains intact and without any damage, similar to how the Iron Dome protects a city or neighborhoods by intercepting missiles before they arrive.”

Benjamini, a 14-year Israeli military veteran, said that the first version of the system is being developed to protect around 100 acres of land from wildfires.

It is tailored for small neighborhoods, vineyards, and hotels or resorts in places prone to wildfires.

The startup aspires to eventually protect an area of up to a mile or 1.6 kilometers.

It was not immediately clear how much the system would cost.

FireDome says it plans to have the first system ready for testing in Israel around May in areas prone to wildfires, such as Jerusalem or the Carmel forest in the North. In 2026, the Tel Aviv-based startup aims to start pilot system sites in the U.S., targeting the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, Worthy News learned Tuesday.

While the system may arrive too late for residents in Los Angeles suffering from the worst fires in the area’s recorded history, the Israeli initiative provided promises for future regions such as California, where wildfires have become growing hazards.

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