Ridgewood Infrastructure’s acquisition of Dauntless Air highlights how emergency management infrastructure offers a unique opportunity for infrastructure investors, as rising disaster intensity and government outsourcing drive demand for contracted, asset-backed businesses.

Ridgewood Partner Ryan Stewart said his firm had for some time been following the emergency management infrastructure sector, which includes firefighting, rescue missions, medical transport, utility services, and fire prevention services, among other areas.

Appleton, Minnesota-based Dauntless Air, which owns and operates its fleet of “Fireboss” firefighting aircraft, boasts many infrastructure-like qualities that are attractive to infrastructure capital investors, according to Stewart.

“In terms of the infrastructure-like characteristics, these businesses have high-quality counterparties, high barriers to entry, they boast long-term contracts with availability payments and sit in an underinvested and under-capitalized sector,” Stewart said.

Dauntless has long-term, multi-year contracts that vary across government agencies at the federal and state levels. Most of the contracts have availability payments that provide downside protection, and there is a baseline level of consistent fire activity spurred by climate trends, leading to more demand for this type of aircraft and firefighting aircraft in general, Stewart added.

“For a value-add fund like Ridgewood, that’s attractive,” Stewart said. “We look to buy businesses with great management teams and high-quality customer bases, which we can further professionalize, scale, and invest in the human capital.”

Ridgewood will implement its best practices to fuel the company’s growth, according to Stewart. “One thing is to ensure our businesses have multiple levers to grow, not one specific vertical in that avenue,” he said. “The emergency services infrastructure market is fragmented. We intend to: 1) Continue to procure more aircraft; 2) Expand the platform via M&A, which could include fixed wing and also rotary aircraft as well as other types of aerial firefighting equipment; 3) Expand internationally and potentially use the company’s aircraft in other places in other seasons.”

Companies in the sector that own their assets have good contractual and regulatory underpinning, and demonstrate a strong community aspect like saving people’s lives could fit well in infrastructure asset managers’ portfolios, according to a sector advisor who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Once something is more of a services business that’s less interesting for infra funds,” they added.

More disasters, more investment

The prevalence, severity, and frequency of natural disasters could also create increased demand for emergency management infrastructure businesses, the sector advisor said.

Stewart concurs. “Fire seasons are longer with more fires of greater intensity. Dryness and heat make them more intense, and these are some of the many trends that will continue to drive growth. There’s a strong need to invest in the maintenance of the aircraft and to serve longstanding customers,” he said.

Wildfires are not necessarily more frequent, but they are getting larger, more intense, and harder to contain, driving demand for specialized response infrastructure.

A report from The Global Statistics, a research organization, stated that, “Since 2000, wildfires have burned an annual average of 7.0 million acres in the United States — more than double the 3.3 million-acre average of the 1990s. Federal wildfire suppression and management spending has surged from under USD 1bn annually in the early 2000s to a 2025 appropriation of USD 1.9bn and a jaw-dropping 2026 budget request of USD 6.55bn.”

An October 2023 report from the US Congress Joint Economic Committee highlights the scale of the challenge in managing wildfires in particular, stating that “Climate-exacerbated wildfires cost the US between USD 394bn and USD 893bn each year in economic costs and damages.”

Other opportunities

Ridgewood estimates that the broader emergency management infrastructure market is extremely large, possibly worth billions of dollars, and there are many players out there, many of which are undercapitalized and underinvested in.

Recent transactions highlight growing investor interest across the emergency response ecosystem. Bain Capital’s private credit arm provided a USD 331.5m facility to NASDAQ-listed aerial firefighting operator Bridger Aerospace, while Stonepeak in 2022 acquired Intrado’s 911 infrastructure business, demonstrating investor appetite for both asset-heavy and digital emergency platforms. Meanwhile, ongoing sale processes for air ambulance provider Angel MedFlight and ground transport operator Midwest Medical Transport suggest a broader pipeline of opportunities.

Vistria Group has formally launched a sale effort with financial advisor Perella Weinberg Partners for Angel MedFlight, which provides fixed-wing air ambulance and medical transportation services, according to a mid-June report from sister publication Mergermarket.

Separately, Harbour Point Capital-backed ground ambulance transportation company Midwest Medical Transport has engaged Lazard for an expected sale process, Mergermarket also reported in mid-June.

As climate-driven disasters intensify and governments increasingly rely on private operators, emergency management services could represent a new frontier of infrastructure investing where scale, reliability, and rapid deployment carry growing economic value.