Today’s Solutions: June 18, 2025

With a historic drought deepening across the Western United States, many residents, officials, and first responders are nervously awaiting an inevitable severe wildfire season. When it comes to wildfire, quick detection is key and even a few minutes can make the difference between homes saved and lost. Last year, we shared a story about Descartes Lab which is working on developing AI to detect wildfires as soon as they start. Now, a similar system called ALERTWildfire has been installed in Northern California and is ready for testing as the hot summer season arrives. 

While Descartes uses AI to scan images from space and detect heat abnormalities, ALERTWildfire uses a series of cameras on towers placed throughout fire-prone regions. Images from these cameras are fed through an AI detection system to immediately identify a developing fire. The system’s 21 initial testing sites are all located throughout Sonoma County where the 37,000-acre Tubbs Fire in 2017 was the most destructive in California history. 

Although the system uses AI to scan the tower images, the system also delivers image updates from each tower to dispatchers at the county’s fire emergency center every ten minutes to add a layer of human confirmation. So far, AI fire notifications from ALERTWildfire have preceded 911 calls from residents by as much as ten minutes. 

Developed by Graham Kent, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno, the program is becoming more accurate over time. The AI system is still learning what fires look like and how to, for example, differentiate between smoke from a fire and steam from a geyser field. Researchers estimate that the system needs to “see” at least 70 real-world blazes to reach a full understanding of the region’s fire landscape. 

Eventually, the program’s developers hope to install 850 ALERTWildfire cameras across six Western states to significantly decrease wildfire severity. They believe that with time, AI can even be trained to analyze fire-prone landscapes and burn scars to predict which areas are most likely to burn that year. 

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

Scientists use mRNA to expose hidden HIV in breakthrough step toward cure

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A team of scientists at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne made a significant ...

Read More

5 subtle signals that make you more trustworthy at work (and beyond)

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Before your credentials or job title even enter the conversation, your brain and body are already working behind ...

Read More

Amsterdam airport bans private jets to reduce noise and climate pollution

On November 5, 2022, scores of climate activists gathered in front of luxury planes and private jets at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, preventing them from taking ...

Read More

Thailand set to legalize same-sex marriage in January 2024

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Thailand has made a significant step toward LGBTQ+ equality by becoming Southeast Asia's first country to legalize same-sex ...

Read More