Ep. 243: Using artificial intelligence to cobat deadly bushfires
23 December 2022
Published by: https://www.sbs.com.au
AUSTRALIA – The authorities are looking at Artificial Intelligence to help them understand how the fires spread and what might happen next.
As 2019 drew to a close, Jack Eagan fought to save his home.
“I knew that if I made a poor decision I would die.”
Jack and his partner Cath escaped unscathed.
But their Rosedale home in southern New South Wales was reduced to rubble.
That was the outcome for many who suffered through the Black Summer bushfires that claimed more than 30 lives.
Almost three years later – they are rebuilding on the same site.
But the threat of another fire looms.
“There were 500 homes lost in our shire alone that day. When another bushfire comes, we will know what to expect if things go badly.”
And experts – like Dr Simon Heemstra from the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council – say the recent wet weather will have an impact this summer.
“What that is giving is a very high grass fuel load and as summer progresses and we start having drier days that grass is gonna dry out and become very significant fuel hazard for us.”
In September this year, the fire danger rating system has been made it nationally consistent and was translated in more than 10 different languages.
Now, fire authorities are increasingly looking into how Artificial Intelligence technology can help.
Dr Heemstra again.
“This new technology can have a significant improvement to our ability to suppress new fires and the fewer fires there are in the landscape the less potential there is for fires to get to a large size and impact on and threaten properties and lives.”
America based Pano A-I is one company implementing this technology.
When a fire is detected, the company’s intelligence centre confirms and sends an alert within minutes.
Spokesman Arvind Satyam says that this system can assist authorities in many ways.
“They have got much better visibility into their entire landscape, they have the ability to look into the environment understand the fuel levels, understand post incident how has it evolved and what can we do better.”
It’s currently in operation in Noosa in northern Queensland and the Riverina region of New South Wales.
Claire Stewart is the Mayor of Noosa.
“The advancement of technology can do wonders across so many spectrums and this certainly for fire management and mitigation will be a game changer.”
