{"id":304459,"date":"2025-10-15T04:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/304459\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T04:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:41:10","slug":"inaudible-sound-might-be-the-next-frontier-in-wildfire-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/304459\/","title":{"rendered":"Inaudible sound might be the next frontier in wildfire defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

A decade ago, two college students built a fire extinguisher that snuffed out a fire<\/a> using nothing more than a booming 10-inch subwoofer. The internet lapped it up, and Jimmy Fallon even booked a demonstration for \u201cThe Tonight Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

But since that brief viral moment, there hasn\u2019t been much more than a whisper about the technology.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not for lack of trying. The college kids weren\u2019t the first to prove the concept. DARPA was on the case in 2012<\/a>; and a search of the scientific literature reveals dozens of researchers investigating the idea.<\/p>\n

One startup now claims to have cracked the problem. Sonic Fire Tech<\/a> has built an acoustic fire suppression system that doesn\u2019t just extinguish flames, it might also protect homes and other buildings from wildfires. The startup has raised a $3.5 million seed round from investors, including Khosla Ventures and Third Sphere, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.<\/p>\n

Wildfires cost the U.S. as much as $424 billion annually<\/a>. The problem has become so acute<\/a> in places like California that insurers are refusing to renew policies<\/a> after repeated blazes have reduced large swathes of the state to ashes.<\/p>\n

Sonic Fire Tech has been developing its technology over the last several years. Michael Thomas, who is chairman of the startup\u2019s board, had been tinkering with the idea of using sound to fight fires, and when he hit a wall, he reached out to Geoff Bruder over LinkedIn. Bruder had worked for NASA, where he focused on heat and acoustics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is kind of a new-age founding story,\u201d Bruder, the startup\u2019s CEO and CTO, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Bruder was intrigued with Thomas\u2019 idea and set about building a prototype. \u201cI got a subwoofer and some parts from Home Depot and AutoZone and said, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s see if we can do any better than other people had,\u2019\u201d Bruder recalled. \u201cWe knocked a fire out from seven feet in my driveway.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The startup soon ditched the subwoofer and moved to lower frequencies. The problem with audible frequencies is that any system powerful enough to suppress a fire would be damaging to people\u2019s hearing, Bruder said. \u201cYou\u2019ve basically got to throw a speaker design in the trash and start from scratch,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There are competing theories as to how exactly acoustic energy can disrupt combustion, but the soundless demonstrations certainly suggest that Sonic Fire Tech is onto something.<\/p>\n

The new system uses a reciprocating piston much like those inside a car\u2019s engine, but it is significantly larger. An electric motor turns a crankshaft, which pulses the two-foot piston to produce infrasound, the technical term for sound that\u2019s below people\u2019s hearing range, or about 20 Hz.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we designed everything ourselves, we dropped the frequency to where we\u2019re below audible range, which helps us transmit further, and it makes it safe,\u201d Bruder said.<\/p>\n

Sonic Fire Tech\u2019s current record is 25 feet. A bigger system could work as far away as 330 feet, Bruder said. The company plans to sell and install its system for about 2% of a home\u2019s value, and it\u2019s talking with insurance companies to qualify the technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To protect a house, Sonic Fire Tech routes infrasound from a single generator through rigid ducts that sit on the roof\u2019s ridge and under the eaves. On the ridge, they fire down the pitch to catch any fires that might start in debris in the gutters. Under the eaves, they are aimed toward the ground to suppress any flames that pop up near the walls. The system turns on when sensors detect a flame.<\/p>\n

A home-based system draws around 500 watts of electricity, and in case of a power outage, Sonic Fire Tech is drawing up plans to use lead-acid batteries for backup. Unlike sprinkler systems, it doesn\u2019t require a source of water, which can be in short supply in wildfire country.<\/p>\n

The startup is working with PG&E and Southern California Edison to demonstrate the technology on homes, and it has signed a letter of intent with a chemical storage facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe natural progression is, if we get certified as a sprinkler replacement, then you can just run a pipe into your house and protect your kitchen and everywhere you would need to protect,\u201d Bruder said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A decade ago, two college students built a fire extinguisher that snuffed out a fire using nothing more…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":304460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6335,47791,119837,158,154457,67,132,68,11003,5609],"class_list":{"0":"post-304459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-exclusive","9":"tag-fire-extinguisher","10":"tag-khosla-ventures","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-third-sphere","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-wildfire","17":"tag-wildfires"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115376350019681352","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}