The FireDome launcher is fully autonomous, designed to launch projectiles containing water or fire retardant up to 1,000 ft. from the launcher. | Credit: FireDome

In wildfire country, minutes matter, but current fire technology still stops at detection. FireDome is trying to close that gap with an autonomous, ground-based launcher system designed to protect communities and critical infrastructure before firefighters arrive, laying down retardant firebreaks, coating vulnerable structures, and suppressing ember-driven spot fires before they cascade into neighborhood-scale losses.

I live in one of the most wildfire-prone parts of California. Fire prevention and response are constantly on the minds of me and every one of my neighbors. Wildfire season in the American West is no longer a season; it’s a year-round threat. For communities like mine in the wildland–urban interface (WUI), the risks are now financial as well as physical. If you can’t prove you’re fire safe, you may not even be able to get insurance.

Tel Aviv, Israel-based FireDome is a startup building an autonomous, ground-based fire suppression system that sits quietly on the edge of communities and critical infrastructure. It acts like an automated “artillery battery” when wildfire threatens.

I recently sat down with FireDome co-founder and CEO  Gadi Benjamini to learn how the company started, what problem it’s actually solving, and how its launcher-based system works.

FireDome’s story starts far from California at a climate-tech conference in Israel in early 2024.

Benjamini had just come off a startup in the methane gas/climate mitigation space that ultimately shut down.

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