Pano AI launches Drone Partner Program to connect wildfire detection, real time operating picture, and aerial response. A new program that connects drones and autonomous aircraft to Pano's platform - launching with Seneca, Rain, BRINC, and Censys Technologies - so a verified detection can move straight to the drones and aircraft that respond SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Pano AI, the leader in AI-powered wildfire detection, today launched its Drone Partner Program at the Red Sky Summit, connecting drone and autonomous aircraft systems to Pano's Rapid Detection platform so a verified wildfire detection can coordinate the effective dispatch of aerial response to both suppression and increase situational awareness. The program launches with four inaugural partners - Seneca, Rain, BRINC, and Censys Technologies, spanning autonomous suppression and public-safety drone operations. Pano's role in enabling wildfire response continues to accelerate; the platform now protects more than 95 million acres across U.S. 18 states. The Drone Partner Program is the next step: a way for the growing field of drones and autonomous aircraft to connect into Pano, so a detection can move straight to the aircraft and crews that respond, instead of stalling between separate tools. The goal is to accelerate fire suppression innovation and help bring the best solutions forward. This is a significant leap forward in both wildfire suppression and advanced situational awareness. The program builds on Pano's expanding footprint in the field. In 2025, Pano alerted on 735 vegetation fires and was the first known alert approximately 60% of the time, drawing on a training database of over 6 billion images and seven patents spanning panoramic imaging, geolocation, and map-based visualization. Pano's Incident API, already in use across its utility deployments, gives partners a standard way to integrate without requiring additional custom engineering on either side. Here's how it works: * Pano provides early detection and triangulates the incident's location * Then, in coordination with the customer, Pano automatically alerts the drone provider passing along the wildfire alert, including triangulated coordinates * The drone provider deploys their technology as appropriate in coordination with emergency responders "Detecting a fire early has always been the first step in an important chain of suppression and response," said Sonia Kastner, co-founder and CEO of Pano AI. "Our goal is to provide not only a fast accurate alert, but to also facilitate a technology ecosystem responders can build upon, so that the moment a fire is spotted the right resources can see it, reach it, and act on it together." Drone Partner Program Launch Partners: * Seneca builds autonomous, AI-powered aircraft that detect and suppress wildfires within 10 minutes of ignition. Together, Seneca and Pano are giving the Aspen Fire Protection District another set of eyes in the mountains and a faster path from detection to suppression. When Pano detects a new ignition and pinpoints its location, it alerts Seneca's autonomous aircraft to attack the fire from the air within minutes, helping crews contain small fires before they become major incidents. * Rain's AI firefighting pilot upgrades existing aircraft with autonomous wildfire suppression capabilities, enabling rapid aerial containment during the earliest stages of ignition. * BRINC builds public-safety drones and Drone as First Responder (DFR) solutions, used by more than 1,000 first-responder agencies across North America. * Censys Technologies provides Over the Horizon Beyond Visual Line of Sight (OTH BVLOS) drone, specifically empowering utilities with autonomous power line drone inspection systems. "The window to stop a small ignition before it becomes a major incident can disappear in minutes. The West needs infrastructure built for this current reality. By connecting Pano's early detection directly to Seneca's aerial suppression, we can see a fire start, act immediately and get suppression in the air while crews are still making their way in. Every minute we can take out of that response gives firefighters a better chance to protect lives, homes and communities." Stuart Landesberg, Founder and CEO, Seneca "Most wildfires don't begin with a 911 call. That's the critical gap our partnership with Pano helps close. When a Pano camera detects smoke, a BRINC drone already stationed in the community can deploy directly to the coordinates, assess the situation, and stream live video to incident command. Fire chiefs can then make faster, more informed decisions about deploying resources, based on what they can see rather than what they have to assume." - David Benowitz, VP of Strategy, BRINC "Early detection creates a window to act while a fire is still small. By connecting Pano's fire alerts with Rain's wildfire mission autonomy, we're working to help fire agencies get aircraft to the right place quickly and deliver a meaningful suppression response. That connection between early intelligence and rapid aerial response is what could change outcomes." - Maxwell Brodie, CEO, Rain "Wildfire mitigation requires more than any single technology. At Censys Technologies, we're focused on mitigating risks earlier and more accurately through scalable aerial inspections. By working with innovative partners like Pano AI, we create a generational opportunity to deliver a common operating picture for asset intelligence - proactive monitoring and rapid response for wildfires; this delivers a comprehensive approach to protecting communities and critical infrastructure." - Trevor Perrott, CEO & Co-Founder, Censys Technologies Program capabilities and availability are subject to commercial partnerships and commercial engagement. About Pano AI Pano AI is the leader in AI-powered wildfire detection. Launched in 2020, the company provides advanced early detection and situational awareness solutions to fire agencies, utilities, governments, and private landholders to help protect people, property, and infrastructure from catastrophic wildfires. With deployments across the U.S., Canada, and Australia, Pano AI is building a new standard for real-time wildfire intelligence. To learn more, visit www.pano.ai or follow the company on LinkedIn. About Rain Rain, a leader in aerial wildfire containment technology, is helping fire agencies more rapidly suppress wildfires during the earliest stages of ignition, before they grow out of control. Rain adapts autonomous aircraft with wildfire intelligence to rapidly perceive, understand, and suppress wildfires, which enables numerous aircraft to be prepositioned in remote locations resulting in accelerated response time. Developed in tandem with fire professionals, Rain is a privately held company headquartered in Alameda, California. Visit www.rain.aero for more information. About Seneca Seneca builds advanced firefighting technology for situations that were previously unsafe, inefficient, or impossible. Based in Sausalito, California, the company develops autonomous heavy-lift drone systems that carry suppressant to the fire line, follow terrain for mapping and vegetation management, and inspect structures and utility infrastructure, with one pilot operating multiple aircraft. Seneca's systems are designed, built, and sourced in America, and serve fire agencies, utilities, and property owners. The company's mission is to protect 500 million acres in the U.S. and allied nations by 2035. About BRINC BRINC is an American developer of technology in the service of public safety. The company builds a connected ecosystem of tools designed to save lives. BRINC manufactures its products in the US, has co-located R&D and production, and is vertically integrated, controlling the entirety of its supply chain. Over 1,000 public safety agencies and 20%+ of the SWAT teams in the US use its products to de-escalate dangerous situations and safeguard human life. The company is backed by top investors, including Sam Altman, Index Ventures, Motorola Solutions, Dylan Field, Elad Gil, Patrick Shanahan, Julius Genachowski, Shyam Sankar, Alexandr Wang, Bradley Tusk, and Jeff Weiner. For more information visit brincdrones.com. About Censys Technologies Censys Technologies delivers the complete BVLOS ecosystem of drone, dock & software solutions that transform aerial data into intelligent asset insight. Manufactured in the United States, Censys systems enable persistent, autonomous operations that empower organizations to see, understand & respond faster. From infrastructure resilience to emergency response, Censys is shaping the future. Visit CensysTech.com for more information.

Colorado Springs Utilities put a Pano AI camera west of the Air Force Academy. The United States Air Force Academy's 10th Contracting Squadron filed a federal notice of intent to sole source an AI-enabled wildfire and smoke detection service to Pano AI, Inc., with an anticipated award date of April 4, 2026. Colorado Springs Utilities had disclosed its own Pano AI station in Stanley Canyon on March 17, 2026. The two procurements are separate, and the federal government classified the Academy's under the code for Security Systems Services. Kim Monson Newsroom July 29, 2026 0:00 / 9:43 The Kim Monson Community Members get a front-row seat. Live town halls with Kim's guests are open to every member; classes are included with Monticello & Mount Vernon membership. The Federalist Papers · Class 4 The states broke it. Can the constitution fix it? with Allen Thomas · Instructor Thursday, August 13 · 7:45 PM · Online Monticello & Mount Vernon members The Federalist Papers · Class 5 Keep your friends close and the other branches closer. with Allen Thomas · Instructor Thursday, August 20 · 7:45 PM · Online Monticello & Mount Vernon members The Federalist Papers · Class 6 Trust issues. with Allen Thomas · Instructor Thursday, August 27 · 7:45 PM · Online Monticello & Mount Vernon members COLORADO SPRINGS - Colorado Springs Utilities has an artificial intelligence wildfire detection camera built by Pano AI operating in Stanley Canyon, west of the United States Air Force Academy. The utility disclosed the deployment in a March 17, 2026 post on its own blog, describing "a state-of-the-art Pano AI station" and "high-tech digital lookout" that scans for smoke "24 hours a day, 360 degrees at a time" and shares what it finds in real time with regional and statewide first responder agencies. The Academy's own 10th Contracting Squadron filed a federal notice of intent to sole source an "AI-Enabled Wildfire and Smoke Detection System service" to Pano AI, Inc., setting an anticipated award date of April 4, 2026, about two and a half weeks after the utility's post. The utility's camera and the Academy's intended contract are separate transactions by separate buyers, and the federal government classified its own under North American Industry Classification System code 561621, Security Systems Services. Mike Rawluk, an engaged citizen with the Ralston Valley Coalition who tracks local government in Colorado communities, brought the station to The Kim Monson Show on the July 29, 2026 broadcast, asking who holds the imagery, how many people can see it on the back end, and whether a company doing a job the government once did should answer to the public the way an agency does. Academy contracting officers set an anticipated award date of April 4, 2026. The filing states that the squadron "intends to award a Firm-Fixed-Priced sole source award to PANO AI, Inc." Filed as a presolicitation special notice under Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 5.1, it carries a prominent disclaimer that it "is not a solicitation or request for proposal." Responses were due by 2 p.m. Mountain time on April 4, 2026. No confirmation that the award was made, no contract value and no period of performance has been published since. Pano AI's published terms reserve to the company "the data it produces" Pano AI's Terms of Service, effective November 12, 2025, address ownership. "You understand that Pano owns the Services," the terms read. "Title to all patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and other intellectual property rights in or related to the Services (including all of its component parts and the data it produces, but not including third party Content or services) are and will remain the exclusive property of Pano." The terms never define what "the data it produces" includes. Those are the public terms, and the same document provides that a specific term of a signed enterprise agreement "shall take precedence" over a conflicting term here. Colorado Springs Utilities has not published its agreement with Pano AI, so what the utility negotiated on ownership, retention and access cannot be reported. The company's Product Specific Terms set limits on how customers may use the service. Users "may not use the Services for surveillance of individuals," and they "may only use Optical Zoom when there is a suspected or actual fire incident or for other safety or emergency reasons." Those limits are contractual, and the product line carries a six-megapixel dual camera configuration with 30x optical zoom that Pano AI's product page says generates a "360-degree panoramic view" every minute. Pano AI onboards the agencies and gives first responders free access to stations in their region. The same product page says the company "fully manages outreach, onboarding, and ongoing training of local, state, and federal agencies for incident response, providing them with free access to Pano 360 and stations in their region." Sonia Kastner, co-founder and chief executive officer of Pano AI, described that model on the My Climate Journey podcast in January 2023. "Pano's technology uses automated modern day SaaS alerting tools to notify an infinite number of users at the same time of that fire," Kastner said. Colorado Springs Utilities says the Stanley Canyon station's real-time data goes directly to the Colorado Springs Fire Department, the U.S. Forest Service, and, in its words, "numerous other regional and statewide first responder agencies." How many accounts can see this particular camera has not been published. Colorado Springs Utilities' Wildfire Mitigation Plan, dated January 31, 2025, does not mention the Stanley Canyon station. Colorado Springs Utilities calls the station "a part of our Wildfire Mitigation Plan" and points readers to the plan itself. That published plan is dated January 31, 2025, more than 13 months before the announcement, and its full text contains no occurrence of Pano, of Stanley, or of the terms artificial intelligence, machine learning or smoke detection. An updated plan may exist, though none has been published, so the document the utility cites is silent on the camera's siting, data handling and retention. Three Colorado wildfire detection bills died before reaching the governor. Colorado's legislature took up state-run wildfire detection three times and declined each time. SB23-032, the Wildfire Detection Technology Pilot Program, passed the Senate in April 2023 and was laid over unamended in House Appropriations on May 11, 2023. SB25-022, Applying Artificial Intelligence to Fight Wildfire, was postponed indefinitely on a 9-0 vote in Senate Transportation and Energy on January 29, 2025, three weeks after it was introduced. SB25-011, Detection Components for Wildfire Mitigation, prime sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Daugherty among others, would have let the Division of Fire Prevention and Control seek qualifications from private vendors. It passed the full Senate on April 25, 2025 and was laid over unamended in House Appropriations on May 13, 2025. Xcel Energy had 123 Pano AI cameras running across Colorado by November 2025. Xcel Energy committed in 2023 to 21 two-camera stations under a five-year contract valued at an estimated $5.25 million, with the cost recovered in customer rates, according to the Colorado Sun. By November 2025 it had 123 Pano AI cameras active statewide, working within "a 10-mile radius, or farther depending on conditions," the Steamboat Pilot & Today reported. Rawluk applies a state actor test to companies doing the Forest Service's former job. The phrase the utility chose, "digital lookout," describes a job the Forest Service once filled with people posted in towers, and Rawluk built his argument on that lineage. His test is whether a private company under contract performs a role normally given to a government agency. He described the arrangement in layers, with Pano AI at one end, a utility or a ski resort or a homeowners association in the middle, and a government agency as the end user of the alerts. Kastner said on the podcast that the company sells to fire agencies at every level of government, to power utilities, and to "private landowners, such as ski resorts and timber companies." Colorado Springs Utilities did not disclose the pole the station sits on or its coordinates. Measuring from the center of Stanley Canyon, Rawluk put the site about a mile and a half from the Barry Goldwater Visitor Center at the Academy. The Kim Monson Show has reported on other camera networks spreading through Colorado communities, including Fort Collins dropping Flock Safety as the license plate readers expanded elsewhere and the apology from Flock's chief executive after he called activists mapping his cameras terroristic. The questions Rawluk raised in Colorado Springs remain open, because the utility has not published its contract and no public statement from the Academy addresses commercial camera coverage of the installation. The utility has said it plans to add more stations, writing in the same post that "Stanley Canyon is just the beginning" and that "we are already evaluating more locations for future AI stations to expand this safety net across our region."

Pano AI, a wildfire detection company, has announced an expansion of its AI-powered platform for electric utilities and emergency managers at EEI 2026. The new capabilities include enhanced fire detection, spread prediction and improved coordination between utilities and emergency services. In 2025, Pano alerted on 735 vegetation fires and was first to detect more than half of them. The platform now monitors over 50 million acres using a training database of more than 4 billion images. The 2026 release introduces daytime and nighttime AI detection models, predictive fire-behaviour modelling through Technosylva integration, and Time to Arrival estimates for critical assets. New features include an Operations Centre View for real-time monitoring, NOAA weather data integration, and location-based incident notifications with geofenced alerts. The expansion comes as federal forecasters predict above-normal fire activity across much of the US this summer.