You can’t fight fire with fire, but you might be able to use a drone,
Firefighters in the city of Chongqing, China, are working to do just that.
The system they developed uses a team of large drones that can stay in the air for 20 minutes at a time and can get over 300 feet in the air in seconds.
The idea is that they can quickly get to the worst of the fire and put it out, or at least greatly slow its spread until the heavier equipment is in place.
The drones are also strong enough to lift firehoses and put them into position.
The designers did a test in January, putting five tons of firewood on the outside of their 10 story test building.
They added heating oil and gasoline, and set the whole thing on fire.
Six drones swooped into the area and put the whole thing out quickly.
The city says there’s still more testing to be done; they want to make sure the drones are working as effectively as they can as a group.
If all goes well, they might start to use the drones on real-world fires this summer.
And the best thing about using drones to fight fires is that once the fire’s out, you can send the thing into the air and take one of those cool drone selfies to jazz up your YouTube channel.
We wrap up the week with the story of Matt Fleming of Tacoma, Washington.
He lost his job due to the pandemic, and thought it was so unfair he wanted to yell about it.
But he also wanted to do something to help others.
So he’s offered to ride his bike around town and yell positive things at people, for a dollar a yell.
Nothing warms the heart quite like someone shouting something nice at you, right?
China’s firefighting drones: Unmanned aircraft can extinguish a blazing 10-storey building within minutes (Daily Mail)
Driver on the Street: Tacoma man screams positivity through coronavirus scare (Q13 FOX)
THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON BACKERS ok gonna stop screaming now
