In this exclusive interview, Stuart Landesberg, Founder and CEO of Seneca discusses the company’s technology and how it will help stop fires before they spread.
With wildfires growing in size and complexity, the technology helping to suppress these fires is only becoming increasingly sophisticated as a result. For Stuart Landesberg, Founder and CEO of Seneca, technology is the very core of the company’s ethos.
In this exclusive interview, Landesberg details how Seneca’s autonomous aircraft are changing the speed and outcome of battling wildfires. With mission-critical features such as immediate dispatch, interwoven artificial intelligence (AI) and the ability to suppress the fire, Seneca have been making significant strides in the industry. As Landesberg looks over the year ahead, he tells Fire and Safety Journal Americas about how Seneca’s five-aircraft strike team can help force-multiply firefighters and amplify our heroes’ incredible abilities and how ultimately, 2026 will be a real chance to prove Seneca’s worth. As Landesberg puts it, seeing is often believing.
Our purpose statement has always been to build advanced technology that empowers firefighters in situations that were previously unsafe, inefficient or impossible. The way we do that in practice, is by using autonomous suppression aircraft – really, they are mid-sized, multi-mission autonomous aircraft.
During the initial attack, we can get about 1,000 gallons of foam to an incident within about 10 minutes of detection. Obviously, that can have a really big impact on the spread and danger caused by a moving fire.
Moving up one level, we’re building a piece of technology that the men and women of the fire service can use to expand the role of aerial firefighting capability across dozens of use cases. Ranging from initial attack to mop-up to making prescribed burns and fuel treatment safer.
The advancements we’ve seen in transformer models and specifically some of the physical AI and robotics have made a big difference. The ability to get to a fire quickly can be the difference between a fire that doesn’t make headlines and a complex incident that destroys thousands of homes in a community.
Because of advances in AI, there is one key thing that has happened and that is that we are now at a point where robots – including, in our case, flying robots – can process enough information.
Our aircraft has three different computer units onboard, so quite a bit of the processing takes place directly on the aircraft. This means you can recognize a fire and very quickly decide the appropriate suppression path to take. This is a response that probably wasn’t possible even five years ago.
Now, the robot is able to make significantly more sophisticated decisions in a way that empowers initial attack without a human pilot in the loop. This is a critical level that applies both to the robotics of the actual response and to the growing comfort with autonomous aircraft. You can look at what’s happening in Ukraine and really see how quickly the field of autonomous and unmanned aviation is evolving.
I think this can be a real opportunity for change. Notably, when you begin to think that if some of the technology was not only used on the battlefield but also to improve the capabilities of the men and women in firefighting services, what could the implications be? It can be a catalyst not only for initial attack but across airborne firefighting more broadly.
In general, every single fire- even the biggest ones – started as something small. They all started with a spark before they grew and became dangerous because they weren’t suppressed when they were small.
We’re getting pretty good at detection. So, when a fire is detected, the time between detection and first suppression really determines whether it stays small and manageable or becomes a complex incident.
For us at Seneca, at the first sign of detection all we need is a single GPS waypoint. The aircraft can autonomously take off, navigate safely to that waypoint, and then the onboard sensor suite can locate the fire from a last-mile perspective. It then navigates to the appropriate distance, adjusts as needed and initiates suppression. Each aircraft has a water cannon and it shoots fire suppressant foam. That system then begins actively suppressing the fire.
When suppression activities are complete, the aircraft returns to launch. It can then be refilled and reloaded. That turnaround takes about 120 seconds and during night operations, for example, you can refill the aircraft, swap the batteries and have it back in the air in under five minutes. Often it can take under two minutes with a well-trained operator.
These systems are designed for sustained operations, especially in circumstances where traditional manned aviation either can’t operate or isn’t available.
There is a common expression in the fire service, “200 years of tradition, unimpeded by technology.” That said, many Chiefs recognize that technology represents an opportunity to do their job better, serve their communities more effectively and keep their personnel safer. It’s not about replacing the firefighter, it’s focused on helping them operate more effectively and safely.
Of course, initial scepticism is expected in any mission-critical field. Trust is built one person at a time and to a certain extent, seeing is believing.
At Seneca, we are always happy to host demonstrations and let people see the aircraft in action. The first time a helicopter pilot puts out a fire from an iPad, it’s a pretty magical experience for everyone involved!
We spend a lot of time learning from people with decades of experience in the field and concentrating on really listening to the firefighting community. As a result of this, we have really been able to understand legitimate concerns and address them as best we can. We’re not done, but that approach has given us a strong foundation and we’re always trying to improve.
We feel like this year is going to be very high-risk in the Western United States.
We want to impact the lives of the men and women who are so dedicated to protecting our communities. For our team, it feels a little bit like this is the moment and it is a privilege to be stepping into this era; one we have trained for and worked so hard to meet. Of course, I hope this year will be quiet, although I do fear it will be challenging.
Overall, the Seneca team is excited for this to be our first fire season in deployment. This is what I’m personally the most excited about – making a real difference during what could be a critical year. Our goal has never been to replace firefighters or existing air assets. Firefighters and existing air assets are essential and we don’t have enough of either. But, in a year where resources may be stretched across the North American fire service, our focus is about making a tangible difference in getting to fires before they become catastrophic.
