Latest Forest Fires in California Highlight Need for Better and Earlier Detection Systems
In the past two months California has been devastated by four of the deadliest fires in its history. During October alone a series of wildfires hit counties such as Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino, destroying more than 8,000 buildings, killing 43 people, and incurring estimated losses of $8 billion.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, this past week saw a new wave of wildfires affect southern California. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, important venues and tourist attractions are now in danger, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire) currently has 4,000 firefighters deployed to put the fires out. You’ve probably seen the below video but it’s worth sharing it again to underline the extent and brevity of these fires.
It’s not yet known how the fires started, although typical causes tend to be dry weather, high temperatures, thunder strikes or the magnifying glass effect (a piece of broken glass that focuses sunlight heat on a particular point of forest). However, perhaps the most pertinent question right now is: how did these fires even get to this scale?
“A fire starting after 10 o’clock at night, under 50-plus mph winds, under absolutely dry, dry fuel beds, every one of those fires had a fighting chance to get going long before our firefighters could even be able to get there. So they all grew into major fires very quickly.” — CAL Fire Chief, Ken Pimlott.
The Future of Fire Monitoring
Put simply, we need better and quicker fire-detection systems to prevent these fires from spreading. There are some existing solutions in use, such as satellite imaging and thermal camera systems. However, looking at the results, it is evident that these methods are not quick enough at providing authorities with the data they need to be proactive rather than reactive.
At Internet of Trees we’re developing connected modules that can be installed in any forest to immediately detect fire, heat and smoke, allowing key stakeholders to be notified to issues via SMS or through our mobile app — whether at 1pm or 1am. This is particularly significant given that four of the recent fires in California started during the night when there is insufficient fire monitoring or detection taking place. Had these fires been caught earlier fewer firefighters would have had to risk their lives, fewer resources would have been wasted and fewer people would have been evacuated. It’s our aim to make sure that, regardless of it being day or night, people know exactly when a fire has started.
It’s worth adding that once our sensors are in a forest it’s not just fires that they can detect. We’re building a solution that includes air quality and CO2 sensors, amongst other things, to provide forest owners with the data they need to manage their forest better.
The forest fires in California should never have reached this size. It’s now the authorities’ job to invest in better technology, whether that is our’s or someone else’s, to make sure that any future fires are detected early and stopped quickly.
