Seneca will provide Aspen Fire Protection District with a strike team of five AI-powered autonomous suppression aircraft and a mobile operations base in the summer of 2026. This is the world’s first acquisition of autonomous aerial fire suppression
Seneca, the resilience technology and infrastructure company, today announced a five-year, multi-million dollar partnership with Aspen Fire Protection District. This marks the first acquisition of a coordinated autonomous wildfire suppression system in the United States, helping improve community resilience and firefighter safety in the wildland–urban interface (WUI). In the summer of 2026, Seneca will deliver a Seneca Strike Team, which includes five autonomous suppression aircraft, a mobile operations base, and five years of software, connectivity and maintenance. Each strike team has a capacity of approximately 500 gallons of finished foam per sortie and a single pilot can operate multiple aircraft due to the system’s AI and autonomy capabilities.
Colorado has a long history of wildfire, including some of the nation’s deadliest fires. In the last five years alone, multiple fires have burned more than 100,000 acres, with fire insurance prices rising across the state. The South Canyon fire in 1994 was one of the nation’s greatest wildfire tragedies, and was caused by a start in terrain inaccessible on foot at a time when air resources were in short supply. This step forward will bring the world’s most sophisticated autonomous aerial firefighting technology to this region, where it can help with starts in inaccessible areas, support night operations, maintain the safety of pile and prescribed burns, carry equipment on incidents in complex terrain and more.
The aircraft system acquisition is the result of strong public private partnerships in Aspen between Aspen Fire Protection District, the Aspen Fire Foundation and local donors Foundation, a local family who are committed to bringing solutions to our community and the nation in the wildfire space. Over the coming years, AFPD and Seneca hope to deploy additional autonomous aerial response bases, which can respond within seconds of detection to get to new starts earlier and provide significant protection to the communities and nature in the Roaring Fork Valley. This expanded coverage would increase fire safety and potentially reduce insurance costs for nearby residents and businesses. Individuals in the Aspen FPD jurisdiction who would like to learn more or contribute to expansion of the program can reach out to the fire department or to Seneca.
“Aspen has a unique blend of high-risk terrain, exceptional collaboration across their valley, and a highly skilled and forward-thinking team,” said Stuart Landesberg, Founder and CEO of Seneca. “They understand the importance of modernizing wildfire response to safeguard communities across the American West. We are grateful for the trust of Chief Andersen and Aspen Fire Protection District.”
“We are partnering with Seneca because this technology will help us save homes and save lives,” said Chief Jake Andersen, Fire Chief and CEO of Aspen Fire. “Wildfires in our region are moving faster and growing more complex every year. Stu and the full Seneca team have listened to firefighters and built a system designed for the realities we face on the ground. This gives us another critical tool to protect our community before small starts become major incidents. We are grateful to the donors who partnered with Aspen Fire to make this possible, and we are proud to bring this capability to Aspen this summer.”
Aspen Fire expects training to begin in the early summer, with firefighters integrating Seneca into their core operations as fire season intensifies.
For more information on Seneca, visit www.seneca.com
For more information about Aspen Fire Protection District, visit www.aspenfire.com
