How AI and Technology Are Playing a Leading Role in Wildfire Prevention

As wildfires continue to pose a threat all around the world, authorities and organisations are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence and technology in a bid to curb their spread.

One example is the Marajó Without Smoke project, which is run by Instituto Ar in partnership with Brazilian startup Umgrauemeio and supported by the Clean Air Fund.

The project uses an artificial intelligence software called Pantera to monitor and prevent wildfires on Marajo archipelago in northern Brazil.

The Pantera system uses small cameras and software to identify smoke plumes within a 12-mile radius.

It can then trigger alerts to the mobile phones of the archipelago’s volunteer fire brigade, called ‘the Guardians of the Flame’, which is made up of farmers, fishers and other workers to combat potential wildfires.

Patrícia Ferrini, a consultant to the World Health Organization and project coordinator, said the system can identify smoke very quickly, meaning alerts reach the community on the ground much faster as well.

Ferrini added Marajo was chosen to test the technology because it is a remote territory, only reachable by water, which means it is often difficult to get external help in the event of a fire.

“We identified an area, which was vulnerable with a large number of fire outbreaks in the past, and had the necessary infrastructure, and women from Filhas da Mãe do Fogo, an initiative that strengthens the participation of Quilombola and riverside women in Integrated Fire Management on Marajó Island, who were interested in building a fire brigade,” Ferrini told me.

She said the primary role of the volunteer fire fighters is prevention rather than large-scale firefighting and added they are also fully trained and equipped with personal protection equipment.

Umgrauemeio’s innovation coordinator Julia Castro said the system allows the fire-fighters to label certain types of smoke plume, based on their local knowledge, which helps educate the system for future alerts.

Castro said the firefighters have been able to highlight the smoke from ceramic ovens, which are not dangerous and very popular on Marajo.

Ferrini added Brazilian law means it is allowed to use fire to clear small crops, hunt small animals, or to cook for religious practices.

“But the forest is becoming less and less resilient, so every time a fire spreads, then it can cause a severe forest fire outbreak,” said Ferrini.

“Fire is important for the local community. It has a meaning for them and one of the aspects of this project was to teach the community about how to keep using fire in the way they do and not end up causing a big accident.

“We have to design everything around what they have done for centuries, because what is changing is the forest and its resilience, not their tradition.”

A survey by Fiocruz and WWF-Brazil found that wildfires were responsible for up to 70% of hospital admissions for respiratory illness in the states of Pará, Mato Grosso and

Rondônia between 2010 and 2020, yet the Marajó archipelago remains a “blindspot” for regionalised scientific data on the issue.

To help close this gap, Instituto Ar is cross-referencing local health data with fire-hotspot incidence to produce an unprecedented report on black-carbon (soot) emissions in the archipelago.

“Smoke doesn’t end when the fire is brought under control. Particles remain in the air, reach distant areas and worsen respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

Preparing the territory ahead of the most critical period is also a public health measure,” said Evangelina Araújo, a pathologist, executive director of Instituto Ar.

And the Arbor Day Foundation’s Impact Fund also recently invested in a pair of start-ups targeting the technology and data needed to help prevent the most severe wildfires.

The first investment is in Vibrant Planet and its data-driven planning platform, which identifies areas of greatest wildfire risk and prioritises forest management.

And the second investment is in the venture fund Convective Capital, which focuses on wildfire resilience and climate adaptation technologies.

The fund’s managing director, Peter Davis said it is focused on investing in startups that can help the foundation with its mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees, in an interview.

Davis added the fund has also invested in a Swedish company called Deep Forestry, which uses autonomous drones to map forests and create digital twins of all the trees.

“The drones can also be used to monitor the underbrush and measure the fuel load and to scan utility lines to monitor vegetation growth that could be an ignition risk,” Davis told me.

“The Foundation has been undertaking disaster and wildfire restoration efforts for decades, and this work has shown us prevention matters just as much as restoration.”