After Los Angeles fires, the search for better tools is picked up to fight fire

Maxwell Brodie clearly remembers the destroyed fires he suffered as a child who grew up in the interior of British Columbia.

One night in 2003, Lightning hit a tree at about 4 in the morning, causing a massive fire burning Ukanagan Mountain. The wind picked up, the sky turned into orange and more than 30,000 people were evacuated from his hometown. Brody remembers his father’s help in connecting the Soaker hose to protect the ceiling of rice from falling ash.

The experiment will inspire BRODIE after nearly two decades to launch a start -up company that gives independent helicopters and other aircraft the ability to perceive and suppress forest fires.

“This is just something, as a child, unforgettable,” said Brodi, co -founder and CEO of Business in Alamida. “With the experience of these most common and severe fires, expanding the ability to respond to include the ability to respond at night in smoke conditions, and in the strong winds, it becomes more important.”

BRODIE is among the small but increasing cadres of California’s promising pioneers – with a lot of artificial intelligence – which can significantly change how firefighters prevent forest fires.

In the face of a budget deficiency, the traditional firefighting departments were cautious about embracing the costly and experimental fire control technology that was not proven in this field. But the size of the unprecedented Los Angeles fires that destroyed thousands of structures and killed at least 27 people brought new attention and urgency to find more effective ways to combat forest fires.

“It is just a completely different measure … We will have to reach new ways to fight [fires]Josh Wilkins, a fire extinguishing leader in San Bernardino County, said, “Josh Wilkins, a fire extinguishing captain in San Bernardino Province, said Josh Wilkins, a fire extinguishing captain in San Bernardino Province, said Josh Wilkins, a fire extinguishing captain in San Bernardino County, said Josh Wilkins, a fire extinguishing captain in San Bernardino Province, said.

In Silicon Valley, major technology companies including Google and Ai-Giant Nvidia were investing in research that can help best firefighters to discover forest fires.

NVIDIA announced that it had cooperated with Lockheed Martin in 2021, the American Agriculture Forest service and the Fire Prevention Department in Colorado to create a digital version of a fire that allows firefighters and accident leaders, they are better for how the fire and fires spread I suggest more enlightened methods To suppress it.

“Security techniques in the twenty -first century we are developing to respond to security threats apply directly to the complex environment of land land fire,” said Dan Lurdan, director of the program at the Lockheed Martin Artificial Center in Connecticut.

Lurdan said that the decision -making devices that support artificial intelligence may soon be able to support the decisions of the first respondents’ orders, but it depends on the availability of data and its proximity to real time.

Space Nasa also works on technology that can allow drones and helicopters that have been tried at the same time to treat forest fires even when there is a low vision.

Fire departments around the state already use the AI ​​tool, run by UC San Diego, can detect fires in video clips so that they can respond quickly to fire. Known as Alertcalifornia, The program publishes more than 1144 cameras and sensors that capture the direct video around the clock.

The California Forestry and Forestry Department worked with Alertcalifornia and DigitalPath to develop the artificial intelligence tool.

“He creates a network that monitors California,” said David Akoya, head of the Cal Battalion.

There were some successes. Last month, for example, the AI ​​system in Alertcalifornia discovered a fire in Black Star Canyon Orange County Fire Commission At two in the morning, firefighters extinguish the fire and obtained less than a quarter of an acre.

However, although Alertcalifornia helped save lives, its restrictions were also exposed during La fires, as strong winds fueled fire that spread quickly so that firefighters were unable to keep up with it.

To improve its capabilities, Cal Fire tests new equipment using Burnbot, a San Francisco company that runs large vehicles that can do burns that control it with a little smoke or without smoke. Modern vehicles, called RX, are equipped with propanefrades that allow operators to control the length and temperature of the fire. They also have water spray nozzles and a heavy country to extinguish the fire.

Wilkins, who advises Perbot and other startups to prevent wild fires, believes that vehicles could have slowed the spread of Los Angeles fires if published.

“Once we get to wind fires, you are fighting embers,” Wilkins said. “It is basically millions and millions of matches that fly across the air and can transfer Bush a large on thousands of embers, and each of these stones has the ability to ignite anything that falls on.”

Akoya said the agency is still evaluating Burnbot vehicles and is waiting for data to help determine how to use it or whether it will be used.

One of the obstacles that prevent the most prevalent use of these future firefighting tools, including sensors that can detect smoke and fire, is a scarcity of financing the public and private sectors.

“It was an invitation to wake up to all of what we face,” said Sonia Kastner, co -founder and CEO of San Francisco, Bano Francisco. “We need a fundamental shift in how to deal with firefighting and managing natural resources.”

Kastner knows the challenges directly. Pano AI, which was built on behalf 2018 CAMP FIRE 85 people left dead, burned 15,3336 acres and caused losses of about $ 16.5 billion.

Pano AI relies on cameras, placed on high points like cell towers, to wipe the surrounding area and transfer video photos to emergency staff. It has been used in Ukiah and Rancho Palos Verdes in California and in other states.

The Ministry of Internal Security is running a technology center in the Washington -based Science and Technology Directorate, which has supported the development of sensors for fire detection and toxic chemicals.

About 450 Alpha and Beta sensors, which could cost a few thousand dollars, have been deployed in areas including Orange County and the cities of the Gulf region and helped discover fires in Hawaii, Colorado and Auckland, California.

Jeff Booth, director of the Center for Sensing and Technology for the Directorate of Science and Technology in the administration, said to support the initiative, internal security received $ 4 million of funding over a period of four years, but the agency was unable to secure more federal funds.

“I have no other federal funding to take this step forward,” Bath said. “Perhaps with the new administration, they can see the value of publishing this further.”

For startups such as rain, getting to participate from investors and firefighting departments is essential.

Rain was founded in 2019, Rain operates from the old traffic control tower at the former Naval Air Air Alaameda. The company, which includes 15 employees, raised $ 9.7 million of seed financing led by DBL Partners for DBL.

Rain has worked with Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and with Orange Province Firefighters in the hope of making its technology in operational use.

“When there is a partnership between creators in the firefighting community and technicians, this opens completely new tools, technologies and markets,” said Brodi, CEO.

Times Scott Wilson researcher contributed to this report.