Modern wildfire-fighting techniques have progressed according to a single strategic principle: Endanger as few lives as possible. The result is that the Forest Service now battles blazes with an arsenal of sophisticated tools that allow firefighters to be effective far from the flames and safer in the danger zones. This summer saw the introduction of a number of breakthrough devices—and just in time. By July, fires had already scorched 2.3 million acres, engulfing forests and homes all over the U.S.

1. The Ikhana, a 36-foot-long drone based on the Predator, was tested this summer. Its THERMAL IMAGES, shot through the smoke from 23,000 feet, would be overlaid with weather info to predict a fire's immediate path.

2. Ten-foot-long aerial drones, programmed with flight instructions, circle above blazes and serve as COMMUNICATIONS-RELAY stations among firefighters. Until they were field-tested this summer, talking was limited to line-of-sight radios.

3. C-130's, the backstop bombers for the USFS since the seventies, have been refitted this year with side-mounted CANNONS that shoot precise streams of retardant just ahead of advancing flames.

4. Thanks to a newly designed INTAKE HOSE, Erickson S-64 Aircrane helicopters douse blazes with 2,000 gallons of water slurped in 30 seconds from ponds, rivers, and, for the first time, the ocean.

5. As a last-ditch effort to protect structures from an approaching blaze, four-wheel-drive fire trucks now spray them with a solution of water and "water-enhancing GEL." The lathering formula clings to surfaces, soaking them more thoroughly, and evaporates slowly.

6. The newest foil-and-silica fire SHELTERS, used by smoke jumpers, weigh under five pounds and can cut 1,700-degree temperatures to a survivable 280°—half the temp of the old "shake-and-bake oven" models.

7. In June, testing began on an 800-pound hydraulic CLAW that attaches under a helicopter and drops more than a ton of shredded wood on areas of steep, scorched earth to stabilize soil and prevent postfire slides. The old system relied on a cargo net.