Fighting Fire with AI: BC Tech Gets $2.2M to Stop Wildfires at the Source

VANCOUVER, BC – April 16, 2026 – As the shadow of another wildfire season looms over North America, a new wave of technological innovation from British Columbia is receiving a significant boost. NorthX Climate Tech announced today a $2.2 million follow-on investment in three local companies—CRWN.ai, Nova, and Skyward Wildfire Technologies—that are pioneering advanced solutions to prevent and manage catastrophic wildfires.

The funding is designed to rapidly scale up technologies that have already been proven in the field, moving beyond detection to actively prevent fires sparked by power lines and lightning, and providing firefighters with unprecedented real-time intelligence. The investment comes at a critical time. While a wet winter has provided a temporary reprieve for some parts of BC, long-term drought persists in high-risk zones, and the memory of 2023’s record-breaking season—which burned 2.84 million hectares and caused over $720 million in insured losses—remains fresh.

"Wildfire risk is no longer seasonal, it's structural," said Sarah Goodman, President & CEO of NorthX, in a statement. "What sets these companies apart is that they're already delivering results in the field, with technologies being validated in real-world conditions with utilities and frontline teams. This is exactly where we double down--backing proven solutions and scaling them quickly so communities have the tools to prevent fires from becoming disasters."

A New Arsenal Against Ignition

This new capital injection targets the root causes of many of the most destructive blazes, focusing on prevention and ultra-early intervention. Each of the three companies addresses a distinct, high-impact vulnerability in the fight against wildfires.

CRWN.ai is tackling the growing threat of power line-ignited fires. The company has developed an early warning system using advanced sensors and AI to detect electrical faults on transmission lines before they can arc and spark a blaze. With the new funding, CRWN.ai will deploy up to 500 of its monitoring devices along BC’s transmission corridors. This moves their system from controlled lab environments to a full-scale, real-world operation, providing invaluable data and preventative alerts to utility partners like Powertech.

Nova is revolutionizing situational awareness for fire crews on the ground. Its AI-powered intelligence platform transforms raw aerial data into live, actionable insights. Previously focused on drones, NorthX's investment will help Nova expand its system to become a comprehensive, multi-platform hub. It will unify data streams from helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, satellites, and ground sensors, creating a single, intuitive operational picture. With over 200 clients across North America and Australia and a successful deployment during the California wildfire season, Nova's technology is already a global leader in automatic fire mapping.

Perhaps the most ambitious of the trio, Skyward Wildfire Technologies is addressing the primary natural cause of Canada's largest fires: lightning. Responsible for an estimated 55% of fires and 87% of the total area burned in BC during the 2025 season, lightning strikes are a formidable challenge. Skyward is developing a breakthrough prevention technology designed to reduce lightning-caused ignitions before they happen. The follow-on funding will accelerate the deployment of its globally scalable system, which uses predictive intelligence and targeted aerial intervention, potentially changing the paradigm of wildfire management from reactive suppression to proactive prevention. The company’s promise has already attracted significant attention, including a recent $7.9 million seed round from other prominent climate investors.

A Strategic Bet on Proven Innovators

The $2.2 million investment is not a speculative bet on unproven ideas but a calculated move to scale what already works. The funding builds upon initial investments made through NorthX's 2024 "Call for Innovation: Wildfire Tech," Canada’s first dedicated funding program for the sector. This follow-on round signals that the initial projects have met critical milestones and demonstrated commercial viability.

NorthX's strategy focuses on bridging the "valley of death" for climate hard tech—the gap between a working prototype and full commercial scale-up where capital is often scarcest. By backing companies with field-tested products and existing commercial traction, NorthX de-risks the innovation and accelerates its path to market.

This model has proven highly effective. Since its inception in 2021, NorthX has invested nearly $52.1 million into 82 different projects. These investments have acted as a powerful catalyst, attracting an additional $621 million in follow-on private and public investment and creating over 800 jobs. It showcases a successful public-private partnership model, with NorthX itself being founded through a joint $105 million commitment from the BC Government, the Government of Canada, and Shell Canada.

Confronting the Structural Threat of Wildfire

The urgency behind these innovations is rooted in the harsh new reality of climate change. The term "wildfire season" is becoming a misnomer as the threat extends across more months of the year, driven by warmer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and persistent drought conditions. While BC’s 2026 spring outlook is near-normal thanks to a mild, wet winter in some regions, forecasters remain wary.

Key areas, including northeast BC and parts of the Cariboo and Kamloops fire centres, are still grappling with the effects of a multi-year drought. The Interior's snowpack is at a 40-year low, raising concerns about early-season grass fires and overall water shortages. This complex and variable risk landscape underscores the need for a diverse toolkit of technological solutions.

The shift is from a purely responsive firefighting model to a proactive, data-driven risk management framework. Technologies like those from CRWN.ai, Nova, and Skyward are essential components of this new framework. They allow authorities and industries to anticipate threats, mitigate ignition risks, and respond with greater speed and precision when fires do occur, ultimately saving lives, property, and ecosystems. This represents a fundamental change in how society confronts a danger that is no longer just a seasonal event, but a structural and persistent feature of the modern climate.

The work being done by these BC-based innovators is not just a regional story; it's a blueprint for climate resilience with global implications. As communities from Australia to California and across the Mediterranean grapple with similar escalating wildfire threats, the technologies being scaled in British Columbia's forests and along its power lines are poised to become a critical export. By fostering this hub of innovation, NorthX and its partners are not only protecting their home province but are also positioning Canada at the forefront of a vital and rapidly growing global market for climate adaptation solutions.