ALERTWest is a new company formed in 2023 to provided firefighters with an advantage to detect wildfires, provide real-time data to help them allocate the proper resources through the use of cameras.
It’s a model based on a successful public-private partnership used in California. Scott Schifando of ALERTWest is helping pioneer this effort after having to endure the Campfire near Chino. His team has developed artificial intelligence to detect smoke.
“The camera spins 360 degrees about every two minutes on an AI model that we have created,” said Schifando. “Anything the system thinks could potentially be fire, the system flags those images.”
From there the images get sent to an operation center where humans confirm the smoke is a fire and from there they will send out an alert to fire managers using a robocall, text message or email so fire managers all have the same information at the same time.
“We are bringing all of these different groups together, we are also utilizing humans along with software and artificial intelligence,” said Schifando. “We are combining that in a way that is helping to make an impact on these catastrophic wildfires.”