XPRIZE announced the awardees of its $11 million Wildfire competition on Sept. 23, 2026, at the New York City Fire Museum during Climate Week NYC, recognizing advances in technologies designed to detect wildfires earlier and respond before they become destructive.
The ceremony also featured a panel discussion with three Greek-Americans: California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis; Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, president and CEO of ECOS; and Peter Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE.
The panel explored wildfire prevention and resilience following recent catastrophic wildfire seasons. The discussion focused on a shared vision for technological innovations, including ultra-early detection and precise, rapid response that could prevent small fires from escalating into devastating events.
According to XPRIZE’s social media recap, the ceremony brought together innovators, fire leaders, philanthropists, technology experts and partners. Conversations throughout the event examined how policy, industry and innovation could help bring finalists’ technologies into wider use, as well as how satellite integration, drones, cameras and sensors could advance wildfire detection and response.
Launched in 2023, XPRIZE Wildfire challenged teams from around the world to develop technologies that could help end destructive wildfires while allowing people and ecologically beneficial fires to coexist safely. Teams competed across two complementary tracks: Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence and Autonomous Wildfire Response.
Track A: Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence
Track A challenged teams to combine space-based Earth observation data with artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect, characterize and report wildfires faster and more accurately across vast landscapes.
XPRIZE awarded $1.05 million across five teams, recognizing advances in system integration, detection methods, commercial readiness, operational capabilities and innovative algorithms. The competition also identified technical gaps that must be addressed to enable reliable, real-time wildfire detection from space.
First Place — System Integration Awardee, $500,000: SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance
SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance integrated synthetic aperture radar and optical data to support fire characterization and spread modeling, demonstrating a comprehensive approach to connecting the components of its system.
Second Place — Methodological Innovation Awardee, $250,000: Team Snuffed
Team Snuffed developed a probabilistic data-fusion framework designed to make wildfire detection transparent, auditable and explicit about uncertainty, with an emphasis on usability for firefighters.
Special Recognition — Commercial Viability, $100,000: MyRadar
MyRadar was recognized for its commercial maturity, use of satellite data acquisition and demonstrated spatial precision.
Special Recognition — Operational Deliverable, $100,000: DeepFire
DeepFire demonstrated an operational fire-spread-alert capability designed to support wildfire detection and intelligence.
Special Recognition — Innovative Algorithm Application, $100,000: Mayday.AI
Mayday.AI adapted an algorithm originally developed for volcanic-ash detection to identify wildfire smoke plumes through cloud cover.
Track B: Autonomous Wildfire Response
In June 2026, Autonomous Wildfire Response competitors tested their technologies in the Alaskan wilderness. Teams were challenged to autonomously detect and completely suppress a high-risk fire within 10 minutes of ignition across a 1,000-square-kilometer area of challenging terrain, without disturbing nearby decoy fires.
The judging panel awarded $2.5 million across three finalist teams, recognizing distinct advances in different stages of autonomous wildfire response.
First Place Awardee, $1.2 million: Anduril Industries
Anduril’s modular Lattice software platform connected cameras, sensors and drones in an integrated pathway from detection to suppression.
Second Place Awardee, $800,000: Dryad Networks
Dryad combined its Silvanet network of 170 sensors with Silvaguard drones, demonstrating end-to-end autonomy.
Third Place Awardee, $500,000: AURA Foresight
AURA demonstrated autonomous, persistent detection and met the competition’s critical 10-minute detection requirement.
Separately, Anduril Industries received the $1 million Lockheed Martin Accurate Detection & Intelligence Bonus Prize, recognizing the speed and precision of its multisensor detection performance.
From Competition to Real-World Testing
Following the awards, XPRIZE Wildfire is moving into an Impact Phase focused on developing promising technologies from both tracks into durable, deployable tools for wildfire management. Awardees will continue developing and testing their technologies in real-world environments.
Through field trials, technology evaluation and knowledge sharing, the program aims to accelerate adoption and integration into operational use, particularly in regions facing high wildfire risk. The next stage will focus on helping technologies move beyond competition testing to support earlier detection and faster response in practice.
Competition Partners and Sponsors
XPRIZE Wildfire’s co-title sponsors are Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The Minderoo Foundation is the presenting sponsor and co-designer of the Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence track, while Lockheed Martin sponsors the $1 million Accurate Detection & Intelligence Bonus Prize.
Supporting sponsors include the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Costa Navarino, American Family Insurance, Fairfax Financial, the Roddenberry Foundation and individual benefactors. PG&E is the lead sponsor of the Impact Phase.
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