Innovation

China Has a Drone Army to Fight Off Wildfires. So Why Doesn’t America?

FIREWALL

Fleets of flying robots are becoming a go-to tool for fighting climate-related disasters in China. But America is lagging behind—badly.

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Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

It was a scene reminiscent of the orange haze that doused the ruins of Las Vegas in Blade Runner 2049: Menacing wildfires ripped through the mountainous forests surrounding the 31 million residents of Chongqing, threatening to torch the towering office buildings and high-rise apartments of southwest China’s largest city.

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