Ridgewood Infrastructure, a infrastructure investor in the U.S. lower middle-market, has acquired Dauntless Air, an aerial firefighting company that provides emergency management infrastructure for wildfire response.
Dauntless owns and operates the nation’s largest and most technologically advanced fleet of Fire Boss aircraft, which are specialized water-scooping air tankers, also known as Single Engine Scoopers (SES), that are built to rapidly attack and contain wildfires that threaten people, land and property. Dauntless deploys these aircraft, highly trained personnel and support equipment under long-term government contracts for wildfire suppression services.
Wildfire response has become a heightened public infrastructure priority as fire seasons continue to grow longer and more severe in many regions of the United States, according to the two companies.