Fighting fire with fire: Lincoln startup uses drones to control burns

While the idea of fighting fire with fire might sound counterintuitive, one Lincoln-based startup is doing just that by using high-tech fireballs to keep people out of harm’s way and help mitigate the growing threat of wildfires.

At Drone Amplified , CEO Carrick Detweiler is revolutionizing wildfire management with IGNIS, a drone system designed to make prescribed burns and backburns safer and more efficient while reducing risk to firefighters.

As a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Detweiler spent years researching emerging technologies before co-founding Drone Amplified. What began as an idea in a research lab eventually turned into a high-tech fire battling tool.

By 2017, the drones were ready to be sold to firefighters to keep boots on the ground and technology in t