AI camera technology is helping tackle deadly wildfires in California

Artificial intelligence recently helped firefighters respond quickly to a wildfire, stopping it before it spread, in a remote area of the Bay Area, California. 

The blaze started on Wednesday July 17, near Aptos, at the northern point of Monterey Bay, but was discovered by an AI-powered camera, which detects smoke and informs firefighting crews before the blaze is able to grow, and become hard to control. 

Cal Fire Battalion Chief David Acuna told NBC Bay Area:

“As with everything else with AI, the more reps it has, the better it’s getting at detecting that.” 

There are more than 1,200 cameras using AI within the state, Acuna added. 

While the rise of AI has attracted the attention of those with dubious motives, stopping wildfires before they become infernos is one of the technology’s more positive uses. 

The five largest wildfires in the history of California happened between 2018 and 2021, all in Northern California. Climate change is a major contributing factor, and humans, property, wildlife and forests are all under threat from the increasing prevalence of wildfires. 

As well as deaths caused by the fires themselves, a study published in Science Advances earlier this year found that over the last decade in California, more than 50,000 people have died prematurely due to exposure to toxic particles in wildfire smoke. 

Using this new technology, firefighters get a notification when smoke is detected, and the cameras can then zoom in on the approximate location. Specialists can then move the cameras and get a more precise location, then deploy crews to investigate.

Back in 2021, open source leaders in Generative AI H20.ai launched its Wildfire Challenge, its “first AI competition for good.”

The competition offered cash prizes for winning submissions entered to tackle the problems of wildfires using AI technology which is now being used in California.

Talking to NBC Bay Area, founder of H20.ai Sri Ambati said:

“I think that is where we truly want to empower a billion entrepreneurs and founders with the purpose to use AI and to solve a problem that is of big value.

“Climate and saving planet Earth is so important for us. The next generation is looking at us to rise up and do something awesome to protect nature, and I think that AI is a force for good in that, and we are super excited to be empowering the next generation to solve problems of high value.”