CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, Calif. ( KRON ) — In the East Bay, the public is getting a look at a new piece of technology that could be used to reduce fire danger.
We are headed into a dangerous time of year for wildfires here in California. It has been very dry out. Fire agencies and PG&E are always looking for ways to reduce fire danger.
One Bay Area company has come up with a machine that might be able to help.
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The car-sized remote-controlled machine has a burn chamber at ground level that can incinerate dry grass. The resulting smoke is then burned inside the chamber and mixed with water. What comes out the top is mostly steam and the resulting burned ground is sprayed with water.
Normally, prescribed burns are done with a hand crew and careful planning, but often such burns are canceled due to weather conditions. In theory, BurnBot could clear dry vegetation at any time regardless of the weather.
BurnBot’s CEO Anukool Lakhina says the company, which is based in San Jose, has been developing this tech since 2020. They wanted to make a tool that could create defensible space in any conditions.