The Randy Ortanez Foundation established the Ortanez Family Team Crossfire Current-Use Program Support Fund in Engineering in June 2024. This fund provides program support for Team Crossfire in the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech) in the A. James Clark School of Engineering.
Team Crossfire is UMD's entry into the XPRIZE Wildfire competition to develop an autonomous solution to detect and assess high-risk fires in 10 minutes or less – a rate 4x faster than current best practices – shortening the time between detection and rapid response to inform management practices and minimize negative impacts.