Map of california wildfires software#

The wildfire missions show the potential AI has to reduce the person-power needed to make use of expensive Pentagon hardware, but also how the department’s bureaucracy can drag on such projects. No one from CalFire was available to discuss the project over the weekend the over-stretched agency began fighting a major new fire in the heart of California wine country.

The project may also help the Pentagon build AI muscle that can be flexed on other missions, whether it be hurricane relief or mapping enemy movements.

Map of california wildfires software#

The software could be rolled out broadly in next year’s seemingly inevitable wildfire crisis. Results have been promising, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as CalFire, used the maps to help its response to the Creek Fire, near Yosemite National Park. This year, the Pentagon is testing artificial intelligence algorithms that scan the video and automatically generate maps of the fires in minutes. Normally, National Guard analysts review that wildfire surveillance video to create maps, a process that takes as long as 6 hours. Its drones have helped map wildfires every year since 2017, thanks to special permission from the secretary of defense. But climate change has helped make crisscrossing California gathering video a new fall tradition for the 163rd Attack Wing. These MQ-9 “Reaper” drones don’t usually fly domestic-they’re on standby in case the Air Force needs them for overseas reconnaissance.

And every day, high above the smoke, a military drone with a wingspan roughly 10 times that of LeBron James feeds infrared video of the flames back to March Air Reserve Base, east of Los Angeles, to help map the destruction and assist firefighters. More than 3 million acres of California have burned this year, and 18,000 firefighters are still battling 27 major wildfires across the sooty state sometimes called golden.