How AI and satellite technology are being used for wildfire detection, mapping in Bay Area

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Bay Area companies are turning to technology that focus on fighting wildfires.

Google is sharing what they're calling a "breakthrough in wildfire detection."

FireSat is a program Google started with satellite experts and a number of nonprofits.

A new set of satellites has been designed to detect and track wildfires as small as the size of a classroom within 20 minutes.

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Seth Schalet is the CEO of the nonprofit Santa Clara County FireSafe Council.

"There's so much happening where fire science and traditional firefighting are merging, and really working together," Schalet said.

Schalet said two weeks ago they announced a partnership with a competitive organization called OroraTech.

"I think we're going to see a little bit of an arms race with satellite technology really being able to look down and detect fires but's not just detection of the fires the mapping of the fires," Schalet said.

When it comes to detection, Schalet explained the new AI-based wildfire smoke sensors.

"So it can discern from a barbecue, or a chimney, or a wildfire," Schalet said.

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Fifty N5 Sensors were installed at Stanford, Palo Alto and Woodside at the end of August.

"Interestingly enough, every wildfire or every fire has its own distinct fingerprint," Schalet said. "Right, so there's particulates and other aspects that makeup a fire's composition. And these sensors are basically using that artificial intelligence and looking for pattern recognition."

Once it detects a wildfire, depending on the fire agency a text alert will go out to the battalion chief.

The Palo Alto Fire Department is collaborating with the N5 Sensor technology.

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Fire Chief Geo Blackshire said the initial alert of a fire is key.

"It's really fundamental. It's the same thing as a fire alarm in any occupancy is that how soon can we be notified," Blackshire said.

Eighty sensors are installed across the Hawaiian islands.

The sensors in the South Bay make up the largest installation in the continental US.

"What that says is that people understand the importance of notifying such emergencies that are so catastrophic as you can see from fires currently burning," Blackshire said.