Canada drone company presents industrial technology for wildfires and emergency response

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Dawson Creek council received a presentation on behalf of Aero Future Canada Inc. at their May 13th meeting on the prospect of bringing drone technology to the province.  

Aero Future Canada Inc. is a Canadian company that is the exclusive importer and distributor of drones being developed in China to distribute their lines of commercial and industrial drones in Canada.

According to Jeremy Beamer from GTA Strategies, which represents Aero Canada, the technology can be used for emergencies like wildfires, emergency response, and delivering resources to remote locations. 

“These are not hobby drones for the backyard, these are industrial-grade devices,” said Beamer  

During the presentation, councillor Jerimy Earl asked if the municipality would be responsible for piloting potential drones. 

Beamer said it would come down to how many models a municipality or organization would be operating and making things available regarding training, licensing, and insurance. 

Earl also asked what kind of infrastructure would be needed to support drones, noting that electric vehicles are also of interest to people and require infrastructure like charging stations. 

Beamer says Transport Canada and NAV Canada currently regulate the technology, but in the future, provinces will have their own bylaws and regulations. He says a network will need to provide power for the technology, but diesel or gasoline alternatives are available.

“[The drones] will be running off of diesel most likely, so being able to cut out the middleman and go to a diesel or gasoline option would be available,” said Beamer.

Beamer also said licensing and training would be needed to operate the drones. 

The presentation showed different kinds of drones the company makes, which have the potential to help mitigate wildfire damage by offering quick and effective assistance, faster deployments than a typical wildfire team, and the use of thermal imaging cameras to help report a wildfire location. 

Beamer spoke about the Forest Firefighting Model drone, which has a maximum flight speed of 130 kilometres per hour and can carry up to four to six extinguisher bombs to put out up to 500 square metres of fire. The drone’s flight time is 21 minutes, and it takes less than two hours to charge.

“Because these can be very quickly deployed and can be left in a central location, they can be used as reconnaissance and first responder vehicles,” said Beamer. 

Another model presented was the urban firefighting drone, which offers assistance in extinguishing fires from skyscrapers. The drone model has a maximum service ceiling of 600 metres, which allows it to fly over any building in Canada, including the CN Tower. 

“When you’re dealing with a high-rise fire, the biggest effort is often trying to reach it,” said Beamer.

The company doesn’t currently have any drone models available for purchase, but the company brought up the possibility of choosing the region as a location for a site to test drones for future use. 

Beamer expects the drones to be available for purchase by late 2025 or early 2026. 

“We’re looking forward to getting these drones in the air, getting them tested over here in Canada and getting them to the people that people need them,” said Beamer.

The presentation can be viewed below: