Firelance: From a Global Challenge in Borneo to Tackling "Zombie Fires" at Home
The Hidden Threat Beneath the Ashes
When the last helicopter disappears and the smoke clears, most people think the fire is over. Yet beneath the soil, a hidden danger lingers. These are “zombie fires”—smouldering embers that survive underground for months, releasing greenhouse gases the entire time. In 2024, British Columbia alone counted 92 zombie fires that burned through the winter, only to reignite when conditions turned hot and dry.
At Envisioning Labs, we believe tackling this invisible threat is key to true wildfire resilience. That conviction led us to create Firelance—a tool designed not only to fight fires but to detect and suppress the ones you can’t see.
A Challenge Born in the Haze of Borneo
Our journey began in 2018, when the World Wildlife Fund launched the XFire Innovation Challenge. The goal was audacious: design a scalable, water-free solution to suppress massive peatland fires in Southeast Asia.
Peatlands are among the planet’s greatest carbon sinks, storing centuries of organic matter. But during drought, they become tinderboxes. Once lit, a peat fire can burn meters below ground, releasing enormous carbon emissions and proving nearly impossible to extinguish with conventional tools. Water is scarce in these environments, and helicopters or trucks often can’t reach remote terrain.
Our scientists, who had been working with CO₂ systems, saw a unique opportunity. We designed Firelance, an injectable lance that delivers compressed CO₂ directly into the soil. Through the Joule-Thompson effect, the expanding gas rapidly cools the fire zone while displacing oxygen, suffocating the fire at its core—without a single drop of water.
With support from WWF and in partnership with Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM), we tested our prototype in Borneo. Teams from the Sabah Forestry Department and the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department ran controlled peat fire trials. Firelance didn’t win first place in the challenge, but WWF recognized its potential and provided funding for further development.
The Conversation That Changed Everything
As development continued, we spoke with firefighters in Southeast Asia, Canada, and the United States. A pattern emerged.
In North America, the problem wasn’t only extinguishing deep-burning fires. The bigger challenge was finding them in the first place. Crews often spend weeks “cold trailing”—digging through soil and feeling for hotspots by hand. It’s grueling, risky work, and even then smouldering fires can slip through undetected.
That feedback was a turning point. Firelance couldn’t just be a fire extinguisher; it had to become a fire detector as well.
From Theory to Field Testing
With this dual-purpose mission in mind, Envisioning Labs shifted gears. We teamed up with the San Juan Island Conservation District and became a finalist in the Conservation X Labs Fire Grand Challenge. Over nine months, we developed and tested new prototypes equipped with sensors for carbon monoxide, particulate matter, thermal imaging, and soil temperature.
Our first prescribed burn at Mount Grant, San Juan Island was a milestone. The data confirmed what firefighters had been telling us: there is a pressing need for early detection tools that integrate seamlessly into existing workflows. The goal is not to replace crews, but to reduce labor, improve safety, and extend protection long after the flame front has passed.
Armed with the data from Mount Grant, we are now working on sensor fusion—combining multiple data streams into a single, actionable picture. This refinement will form the backbone of our second testing round in the fall.
The Future of Fire Resilience
Our vision for Firelance is to evolve into a flexible, field-ready platform. Imagine customizable sensors that can be deployed by hand, mounted on drones, or integrated into mobile apps that give crews real-time intelligence. By 2027, we aim to deliver a commercially deployable solution that helps firefighters:
Prevent flare-ups during prescribed burns
Detect hotspots before they reignite into wildfires
Suppress underground smouldering fires efficiently and safely
Firelance isn’t just about putting out flames. It’s about equipping land stewards, firefighters, and conservation teams with the tools they need to safeguard both ecosystems and communities. From our headquarters in British Columbia, we are proud to pioneer this work, creating local high-tech jobs and positioning Canada as a leader in wildfire resilience technology.
Building the Next Generation of Wildfire Technology
Zombie fires are a silent but growing threat in a warming world. If left unchecked, they will continue to drive greenhouse gas emissions and magnify the destructive power of wildfires. Firelance represents a new approach: a system that doesn’t just fight the visible fire but addresses the hidden one beneath our feet.
As we enter the next phase of development, we want to expand the conversation. If you are a wildland firefighter, researcher, or innovator working on wildfire resilience, we want to hear from you.
Together, we can build the next generation of wildfire technology.