Exclusive Content

Curious to see who will be attending the Wildfire Technology Summit?

IDGA are proud to release our 2026 attendee snapshot, highlighting the senior decision-makers and experts in the wildfire community who will be joining us onsite in April.

With tens of thousands of wildfires burning millions of acres of American land every year, the wildfire mitigation industry has become a multi-billion dollar market. Frequently, new technologies in the aviation, or geospatial intelligence, realms are emerging to modernize the fight against wildfires.

As investments increase, and new wildfire authorities emerge, there is more information out there on wildfire management than ever before. This is why IDGA has created the “Wildfire Management Market Report 2026-2030,” a comprehensive guide to everything related to the fight against wildfires. In this 32-page report, readers will gain insights into the latest technologies, investments, and funding figures in the wildfire space. This year, for the first time, the wildfire market report also includes a state-by-state breakdown of funds and wildfire mitigation efforts.

For decades, planes and helicopters have been critical for managing wildland fires. These tools help transport firefighters, deliver equipment, drop fire retardants, and more. For example, during January’s wildfires in Los Angeles, CAL FIRE deployed dozens of helicopters and several air tankers to transport firefighters and drop water and fire retardants. CAL FIRE, the state agency that oversees fire management and response, has a fleet of over 60 helicopters and planes, making it the largest fleet of aerial firefighting solutions in the world.

The next step in the evolution of aerial firefighting will come from unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones, which can provide the same benefits as classic aerial aviation devices without risking human lives, and at a lower cost. While drones won’t be replacing boots on the ground firefighters in the near future, this article will explore the value they bring to the firefighting community.

As of late November, there have been 60,851 wildfires in the U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In order to detect, predict, and mitigate wildfires, it falls on wildfire authorities at the local, state, and federal levels to coordinate responses and the sharing of information.

In this IDGA report, we will explore five instances where agencies representing different levels of government have joined forces to expand wildfire-fighting capabilities. These examples vary from organizations like the National Interagency Fire Center to crises like the Southern California wildfires at the beginning of 2025.