A method is provided to automatically perform a firmware upgrade of a wireless network. The method includes receiving by a node of the wireless network using slave-mode, a firmware upgrade request from another node of the wireless network and performing by the node a firmware upgrade using upgrade instructions included with the firmware upgrade request. The method further includes determining by the node using master mode, at least two eligible nearby nodes of the wireless network, updating the firmware upgrade request, and transmitting by the node using master mode the firmware upgrade request to the at least two eligible nearby nodes of the network.