In a year fraught with record-breaking fires in California, the Los Angeles Fire Department introduced the first robotic firefighting vehicle in the United States.
The robot, dubbed Thermite RS3, was announced last week after its skills were put to the test in a live fire, according to an LAFD press release. Shortly before the press conference announcing the robot, it was sent to help out with a “major Emergency commercial structure fire” in Downtown Los Angeles’s fashion district.
“It was exciting to see this unique piece of apparatus put into action on its first day in service,” Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott told CNN. “What we had was a large, one-story commercial building, it was housing piles of textiles, multiple rolls of fabric. The Thermite RS3 helped push piles of smoldering wet debris, creating a path for the firefighters to operate safely.”
The Thermite RS3 is “a compact, low-center of gravity, wide chassis, industrial robotic firefighting vehicle. It is capable of flowing 2,500 gallons per minute and is remotely operated with a controller which provides high-definition video feedback for ultimate maneuverability in difficult conditions,” according to the press release. It weighs 3,500 pounds and clocks in at a swift 8 mph. LAFD hopes that the robot will aid in “safe interior fire operations on large commercial fires, wood-framed structures under construction, structural defense at wildfires, large animal rescues, fuel tanker fires, auto storage fires and much more.”
The robot cost roughly $277,000. The purchase was made possible by the LAFD Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the fire department, according to CNN.
California has experienced one of the worst years of wildfire damage in the state’s history, with more than 4 million acres burnt by wildfires. A single fire has been dubbed a “gigafire” after consuming more than 1 million acres on its own. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the wildfires in California this year have burned more land than all of the state’s recorded wildfires between 1932 and 1999 combined, according to the Associated Press.
The Thermite RS3 is manufactured by Textron subsidiary Howe & Howe Technologies. It specialized in armored and military-grade vehicles.
