Skyfire Consulting announced on June 25 that they have partnered with the City of Huntsville and the Huntsville International Airport. As part of this strategic agreement, Skyfire will move its headquarters from Atlanta to Huntsville.

Skyfire’s new headquarters will be located at 1626 County Line Road. There, the company will have access to over 2,000 acres of available airspace.

Barbie Peek, Chief Business Development Officer of the Port of Huntsville, welcomed those gathered for Skyfire’s declaration.

“This announcement is part of a collaborative effort between the airport, the city, and the Chamber. It’s an effort to recruit business and industry to come here that will enhance the current businesses that we already have, and also to add to the current business climate that we already have,” said Peek.

The various agencies joined forces to secure the facility for Skyfire’s new headquarters, as well as the airspace. Peek said that she hopes that this announcement will be the first of several at the site, as other companies establish themselves at the County Line Road address.

Matt Sloane, CEO and founder of Skyfire, followed Peek’s remarks.

Sloane stated that Skyfire is unique among drone companies in Huntsville because it is focused on public safety, rather than defense.

“Skyfire was founded 10 years ago in Atlanta — almost to the day,” said Sloane. “I’m excited to be one of the very few people — not in the defense industry — coming here to Huntsville.”

Sloane moved to Huntsville three years ago, in the middle of the pandemic. He has found Huntsville to be an incredibly welcoming environment — both personally and professionally.

Bruce Hudson, who relocated within the last couple of weeks, is the first Skyfire employee to join Sloane in Huntsville.

“Skyfire focuses on public safety and critical infrastructure response with drones,” said Sloane. “So we’ve worked for ten years with over 1,000 agencies — local, state, and federal — to help stand up their drone programs. We do a lot of training. We do a lot of FAA consulting.”

Skyfire also recently announced that the Rise DFR (Drone First Responder) Village will be on the grounds of their new headquarters.

“This one-of-a-kind facility provides public safety agencies, military/DoD, critical infrastructure, and private industry with best-in-class testing, training, and demonstration grounds to advance and adopt DFR programs,” said a release from Skyfire.

Zachary McGovern, External Relations Officer for the City of Huntsville, represented Mayor Tommy Battle at the event.

“It is the citizens of Huntsville, and all of North Alabama, who will benefit the most from this relocation,” said McGovern. “Having ‘eyes in the sky’ is critical to situations requiring swift response.”

McGovern said that drones will be able to reach critical, evolving situations more quickly than human responders, relaying crucial information back to dispatchers. This will help first responders arrive at a scene with greater situational awareness.

Sloane said that Skyfire has begun working with the Huntsville Police and Fire Departments in an advisory capacity.

“They have an incredible drone program here already in Huntsville — one of the best that I’ve seen in the country,” said Sloane. “We’re helping them figure out what the next steps are and how to build on that.”

Skyfire aims to reach both local and national clients.

“As new technology comes out, as new response modalities come out, we hope that the Drone First Responder Village will be a place where people from around the country come [to train],” said Sloane.

Sloane appreciates the size of Huntsville, which he finds much more accessible than Atlanta.

“One of the greatest things about coming here to [Huntsville] is that it is not the large city that Atlanta is,” said Sloane. “When I first talked to the Chamber of Commerce they said ‘Well, we ought to introduce you to the mayor.’ Well, no one’s ever offered to introduce me to the mayor of Atlanta!”

Sloane reported that he had a productive meeting with Mayor Battle and his team. Mayor Battle enjoyed test flying a drone.

Sloane anticipates that Skyfire will hire several more employees in the near term, with plans to greatly exceed that number in the future. Dozens of agencies will be coming through Skyfire’s facility each month.

While Skyfire is already flying and conducting training in Huntsville, the facility on County Line Road requires a few more renovations before it is ready for its big debut.

“We look forward to a grand opening of this facility,” said Peek. “We’ll invite you all back out to celebrate with us when that happens.”