On a March afternoon, artificial intelligence detected something resembling smoke on a camera feed from Arizona’s Coconino National Forest. Human analysts
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verified it wasn’t a cloud or dust, then alerted the state’s forest service and largest electric utility.
One of dozens of AI cameras installed for the utility Arizona Public Service had spotted early
signs of what came to be known as the Diamond Fire. Firefighters raced to the scene and contained the blaze before it grew past 7 acres.
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As record-breaking heat and an abysmal snowpack raise concerns about severe wildfires, st
tes across the fire-prone West are adding AI to their wildfire detection toolbox, banking on the technology to help save lives and property.
Arizona Public Service has nearly 40 active AI smoke-detection cameras and plans to have 71 by summer’s end, and the state’s fire agency has deployed seven of i
ts own. Another utility, Xcel Energy in Colorado, has installed 126 and aims to have cameras in seven of the eight states it serves by year’s end.
“Earlier detection means we can launch aircraft and personnel to it and keep those fires as small as we can,” said John Truett, fire management officer for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management.
Where There Are Fewer Eyes, AI Looks for Fires
ALERTCalifornia is a network of some 1,240 AI-enabled cameras across the Golden State that work similar to the system in Arizona.
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Human intervention keeps the risk of false positives low and trains the technology to become more
accurate, said Neal Driscoll, geology and geophysics professor at the University of California, San Diego, and founder of ALERTCalifornia.
“The AI that’s being run on the cameras is actually beating 911 calls,” he said.
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In Arizona, California and beyond, the technology is mostly used in high-risk areas that are sparsely populated, rural or remote, where a blaze might not be quick
ly spotted by human eyes.
“It’s just the ones where we won’t get a 911 call for a long time, it is extremely helpful to have that AI always monitoring that camera,” said Brent Pascua, batta
lion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire
. “In many cases, we’ve started a response before 911 was even called, and in a few cases, we’ve actually started a response, went there, put the fire out, and never received a 911 call.”
A Technology Driven By Worsening Blazes
