Cal Fire announces program to use artificial intelligence to detect wildfiresAlert California AI, hoping to improve the long-standing problem of casualties caused by wildfires.
Wildfires are often caused by hot, dry weather, coupled with lightning and other factors that create ignitions, which inflame dead wood and fallen leaves. Strong seasonal winds in areas like California can fuel these fires, often causing them to spread at an unimaginable speed. For example, the recent severe wildfires on Maui, Hawaii, were fueled by the exacerbated dryness and strong gusts of wind, which fueled the rapid spread of the fires across the island.
The "Alert California AI" project was created by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the University of California, San Diego, using 1032 sets of cameras that can capture 360-degree panoramic images.Capturing images, and uses artificial intelligence to identify abnormal situations in images, thereby notifying relevant departments in advance to confirm whether there is a potential fire risk and take response measures in advance.
此計畫已經在年7月啟動，並且協助解決一場位於聖地牙哥以東的克利夫蘭國家森林公園內可能發生野火災情，並且在45分鐘內由60名消防員、7台發動機、2台推土車與2台水罐車等陣容完成火勢撲滅。
In addition to using image recognition to address California's wildfire problem, the current "Alert California AI" project also includes using aircraft or drones equipped with laser lidar systems to scan the surface to determine the condition and carbon content of California's forest areas. It also uses machine learning models and petabyte-level data to analyze smoke and suspended matter content in the air to determine whether there is a possibility of fire.
The system behind the "Alert California AI" project was created by DigitalPath, a technology company in partnership with the University of California, San Diego, and has been funded by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection with over $2000 million in funding in the past. An additional $351.6 million in funding is expected in the future in the hope of improving California's wildfire problem.
