California turns to AI to help spot wildfires
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[August 11, 2023]
By Daniel Trotta
EL CAJON, California (Reuters) - California firefighters are using
artificial intelligence to help spot wildfires, feeding video from more
than 1,000 cameras strategically placed across the state into a machine
that alerts first responders when to mobilize.
In an example of the potential of the ALERTCalifornia AI program
launched last month, a camera spotted a fire that broke out at 3 a.m.
local time in the remote, scrubby Cleveland National Forest about 50
miles (80 km) east of San Diego.
With people asleep and darkness concealing the smoke, it could have
spread into a raging wildfire. But AI alerted a fire captain who called
in about 60 firefighters including seven engines, two bulldozers, two
water tankers and two hand crews. Within 45 minutes the fire was out,
Cal Fire said.
Developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego using
AI from DigitalPath, a company based in Chico, California, the platform
relies on 1,038 cameras put up by various public agencies and power
utilities throughout the state, each one capable of rotating 360 degrees
at the command of remote operators.
Since the AI program began July 10, Cal Fire provided other examples of
AI alerting fire captains to a fire before a 911 call was made, though
it did not yet have a comprehensive report.
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Neal Driscoll, a professor of geology and geophysics at UCSD and the
principal investigator of ALERTCalifornia, said the sample size so far
was too small to draw conclusions.
Cal Fire hopes the technology can one day serve as a model for other
states and countries around the world, a need underscored by unusually
devastating wildfires in Hawaii, Canada and the Mediterranean this
season.
"Its 100% applicable throughout anywhere in the world, especially now
that we're experiencing a lot larger and more frequent fire regimes and
with climate change," said Suzann Leininger, a Cal Fire intelligence
specialist in El Cajon, just east of San Diego.
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![](../images/081123PIX/news_k25.jpg)
Cal Fire fire captain Kris Yeary watches
over screens in his duty captain chair from Cal Fire's San Diego
County headquarters in El Cajon, California, U.S. August 4, 2023.
Artificial intelligence is learning from seasoned professionals on
how to detect wildfires and now being brought online to assist.
REUTERS/Mike Blake
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/11/images/ads/current/businessdirectory_dailycover_2023.png)
Part of Leininger's job is to help the machine learn. She reviews
previously recorded video from the camera network of what AI
considers to be a fire, then tells the machine whether it was right
with a binary yes or no answer. Any number of phenomenon can trigger
a false positive: clouds, dust, even a truck with smoky exhaust.
With hundreds of specialists repeating the exercise up and down the
state, the AI has already become more accurate in just a few weeks,
Driscoll said.
Beyond the camera network, the platform is collecting vast amounts
of additional information, including an aerial survey to quantify
the vegetation that would fuel future fires and map the Earth's
surface beneath the canopy, Driscoll said.
Airplanes and drones are also collecting infrared and other
wavelength data beyond the capabilities of human vision.
During the winter, the platform is able to measure atmospheric
rivers and snowpack. The UCSD team is also capturing data on burn
scars and their impact on erosion, sediment dispersal, water quality
and soil quality, Driscoll said.
The data, which is available to any private company or academic
researcher, could eventually be used to model fire behavior and
improve as yet unforeseen AI applications for studying the
environment.
"We're in extreme climate right now. So we give them the data,
because this problem is bigger than all of us," Driscoll said. "We
need to use technology to help move the needle, even if it's a
little bit."
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; editing by Donna Bryson and Diane
Craft)
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