Why did someone build a flame-throwing drone?

While it may seem peculiar to shoot fire at powerlines, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) seen doing so in a video circulating the Internet was working to clear debris caught on the lines. And in the video, which seems to be a demonstration of the technology, the drone technicians controlling the UAV with a remote are all wearing hard hats.  According to a recent article, the drone is being flown in Xiangyang, China, so for the time being, Americans can be secure in knowing that fire-spewing robots are not overhead … yet …