DEPLOYDatabase

Deployment

Thermite RS3 at Los Angeles

The Thermite RS3 is Howe & Howe's remote-controlled firefighting robot, delivering high-flow fire suppression, situational awareness, and standoff capability for hazardous fires; the line has since extended to the electric Thermite EV2.

Thermite RS3 by Howe & Howe · Catalog entry · 1 source · not yet field-verified

Track Thermite RS3 at Los Angeles

Recent coverage

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First domestic sale of the Thermite RS3 robotic firefighting vehicle to the Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD). First robotic firefighting vehicle in the United States.

Exposure

Customer segment
research
Scale tier
commercial 10 99

Each exposure value carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.

Safety record

No incidents on record for Thermite RS3 at Los Angeles.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Trust tier
Catalog entry · 1 source · not yet field-verifiedhow tiers work →
Last updated
2026-08-21
Model
Thermite RS3
Company
Howe & Howe
Location
United States/California/Los Angeles County/Los Angeles
Operator
Howe & Howe
Status
operational
Operator type
maker operated
Scale at site
11 to 100 units
Site environment
outdoor
Location precision
verified coordinates
First seen
2021-11-01
ID
1ae86d81-65de-4c7f-a89a-4d3609af9629

Timeline

  1. Nov 2021
    First recorded
    Thermite RS3 first documented operating at Los Angeles.
  2. Aug 2026
    Current status: operational, reviewed
    Latest recorded state. New status transitions append here as the deployment-status recorder produces them.

On the deployment map

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Thermite RS3 operates in Los Angeles. Explore the full verified map:

Robot-delivery corridors

Los Angeles is covered by DEPLOY’s robot-delivery corridor tracking. See the corridor view:

Sources (1)

  1. LAFD Debuts the RS3: First Robotic Firefighting Vehicle in the United States · https://lafd.org/news/lafd-debuts-rs3-first-robotic-firefighting-vehicle-united-states · 2021-11-01
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-08-21

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: other

Sources by quality tier

1
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Thermite RS3 at Los Angeles.

Common questions

What is the Thermite RS3 deployment at Los Angeles?
Thermite RS3, built by Howe & Howe, is recorded as a deployment at Los Angeles on the DEPLOY registry. Howe & Howe operates the deployment directly.
Who operates Thermite RS3 at Los Angeles?
Howe & Howe, the manufacturer of Thermite RS3, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.
When did the Thermite RS3 deployment at Los Angeles go live?
The deployment is recorded as starting November 1, 2021 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.
Have there been incidents at the Thermite RS3 deployment at Los Angeles?
No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.

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