‘Wildfire’ is more of a season in California than Fall right now. Instead of putting humans in harm’s way, this week’s startup is using drones for emergency response.

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⚾ The Elevator Pitch:

If one were to ask a firefighter or emergency coordinator what the biggest issue they face is when going into an emergency situation, they generally have one answer — a lack of information. Going into a blazing fire or hellish circumstance is dangerous as is, but even a little bit more information about the area and conditions can make a successful rescue much more likely (while, also reducing risk to the emergency responder).

Paladin understands this and used a modern technology, drones, to get this extra information to the emergency responders before responders reach the emergence site. Paladin deploys autonomous drones to 911 calls. Their drone, the newly announced Knighthawk, and their control platform, Watchtower, give first responders a live overhead view of an emergency before they arrive, helping increase situational awareness and decrease response time.

This extra information is critical to a successful rescue, and first responders across the country are adopting Paladin’s technology.

👇 The Drop Down

Site: https://paladindrones.io/
Founded: 2018
Trend: Drone Technology
Traction: Team lived amongst firefighters and police officers in two cities to build product, onboarded new cities weekly, already responded to 1,700+ emergencies, went through YCombinator + raised $1.3 mil from Khosla Ventures, recently launched new product (Knighthawk)
Team - Drone Enthusiast and Engineer
Divyaditya Shrivastava - Founder & CEO

🔍 Why we like it

1. 🔥 Literally a 10x Solution
   Prior to Paladin, emergency responses times ranged from 8 to 15 minutes. Firefighters needed to drive to the site, conduct a brief survey of the area, and then execute on a plan. With Paladin, responders are now able to get a birdeye view of the site within 90 seconds (during the drive to the site) and by the time they reach, they are ready to act and save lives.
2. 🛩 Utilitarian Use Case of a New Technology
   Paladin is currently at the forefront of a new technology - drones, and they have found a practical and extremely useful use case for this tech. Instead of another floating selfie camera or TikTok filming tool, they turned this technology into something that can, and already is, saving lives. Their drones are specially built to handle harsh conditions and come pre-configured with heat sensors in addition to cameras so first responders get all the intel they need to fight fire, with drones.
3. 🧯 The team thinks, lives, and breathes firefighting
   While building Paladin, Divyaditya wanted to ensure that he fully understood the experience and needs of a firefighter on the field. Instead of relying on phone calls and email interviews, he uprooted from the Bay Area and moved to Houston where he worked out of a fire department for 6+ months. He worked on deploying the drones, debriefed with the firefighters, and did what it takes to immerse himself in the firefighting world so he could work with his team to build the best hardware and software experience for the firefighters.

🤝 Get involved with Paladin Drones

• Check out their new launch video for the Knighthawk
• Check out Paladin’s website
• Check out this Techcrunch piece about Paladin
• Paladin is hiring! Email them here to get placed: team@paladindrones.io