When the "Caldo" mountain fire was raging in September 2021, 23 firefighters were trapped by the fire wall at the northern foot of Lake Tahoe. The California National Guard urgently dispatched three RQ - 20s to form an air relay network: the lead aircraft drew a 3D model of the fire scene through the FLIR Boson® thermal imager; the wing aircraft used a laser methane detector to monitor the concentration of combustible gas at the 50ppb level; the real - time data drove the AR helmet to generate red/green evacuation paths.

Decision - making Innovations:
◾ AI algorithm gives a 22 - minute advance warning of sudden changes in the fire situation
◾ Millimeter - wave radar has a penetration smoke imaging accuracy of 0.3 meters
Historical Comparison: This system avoided repeating the tragedy of 19 deaths in the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire (data source: California Fire Department 2021 White Paper).