The future of wildfire detection is here: Artificial Intelligence
FireScout technology trains itself with each wildfire.
FireScout detects wildfires in minutes, integrates into existing alert systems
FireScout, the leader in AI wildfire detection, will be exhibiting at the Natural Disasters Expo. Robert Grey, Sales Manager at FireScout, shared key insights.
With Boulder, Colorado’s December wildfire tragedy fresh in our minds, we all recognize how destructive wildfires can be. On the front line of battling wildfires is early detection.
IMAGES AND VIDEO SHOW BOULDER FIRE DEVASTATION IN COLORADO
FireScout technology analyzes camera images and can identify a wildfire with 99% accuracy within minutes said Bow Rogers, President of FireScout, "And the simple logic is the faster you get there, the faster you can put it out and not let it become a disaster."
Two wildfires burned nearly 600 homes near Boulder, Colorado on December 30, 2021.
(Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Cameras identify smoke during the day and infra-red sensors identify flames in the dark. The system then sends a location and image to first responders within a minute.
The company developed the program and trained it with over 10 million real wildfire images dating back to 2013.
"And then as new alerts are coming in, whether it's true or false positive, either a real wildfire or not, we are able to automatically retrain that system and the algorithm gets smarter and smarter," said Sales Manager Robert Grey to FOX Weather’s Steve Bender at the Natural Disasters Expo on Monday.
FireScout technology can detect smoke plumes from wildfires during the day and flames at night.
( Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / FOX Weather)
"There are over 1,000 cameras deployed, mostly in the western United States as well as Australia," said Grey. "We're currently monitoring 300 cameras live and delivering alerts to first responders, most in California. We have pilots starting very soon in Australia as well."
PG&E, California’s largest utility launched a pilot program with the technology last year. "We’ve learned so far that the software is really good at spotting wisps of smoke from long distances and ruling out the false positives," said PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras.
PG&E EXPANDS WILDFIRE DETECTION NETWORK WITH DOZENS OF CAMERAS
The technology successfully provided early warning for the 2021 River Fire.
"Every bit of data and intelligence that comes to us could potentially save a life," said PG&E Chief Risk Officer Sumeet Singh.
The 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed 18,804 structures.
(JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Wildfires blackened 7,139,712 acres nationwide in 2021. In 2020, they scorched a record 10,274,679 acres. California’s 2020 insured losses were estimated to be nearly $10 billion.
The Insurance Information Institute reported that Colorado’s Marshall Fire on December 30, 2021, was the most destructive in the state’s history and estimates $1 billion in insured losses.
2021 RANKED SECOND FOR HIGHEST NUMBER OF BILLION-DOLLAR WEATHER DISASTERS ON RECORD
More than 4.3 million households are at high to extreme risk of wildfire nationwide, with two million properties in California alone according to Verisk’s Wildfire Risk Analysis.
Check out FOXWeather.com where reporters will show us the latest developments in mitigating the toll of natural disasters from the Natural Disaster Expo.
FROM FORECASTING TECHNOLOGY TO FLOOD MITIGATION, ITS ALL AT THE NATURAL DISASTER EXPO