AI, Robots and Satellite Sensors Are Helping in the Fight Against Wildfires
Firefighters are being stretched to their limits as climate change makes blazes worse, but a new wave of technology could provide some relief.
A wildfire burning in British Columbia this summer amid Canada’s record-worst fire season. Firefighters are looking at innovative tools to help address the worsening wildfire crisis across the globe.
Photographer: Jesse Winters/BloombergThis year has been a challenging one for Phil Schneider, who hasn’t seen wildfire behavior like this in his 47-year firefighting career.
Blazes raged through more than 2,000 acres of wildland in recent months in his county deep in the woods of Oregon, where a wet climate once made forest fires unthinkable. That’s an increasingly common scene around the world — from Canada to Greece, global warming has helped fuel larger and more destructive blazes, pushing firefighting services to the brink. But Schneider has a new recruit to help manage the growing risks: artificial intelligence.