Weather and fuel—two leading wildfire culprits—are now in the crosshairs of a University of Alberta researcher hoping to use machine learning against them.
Weather and fuel—two leading wildfire culprits—are now in the crosshairs of a University of Alberta researcher hoping to use machine learning against them.
By leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to sort and map reams of meteorological data, Mike Flannigan and co-researchers from the Canadian Forest Service and University of Waterloo want to better predict where forest fires could break out and take hold so firefighting agencies can plan ahead.
“We want to complement existing decision-making tools so they can make the best calls possible in dealing with fire to help protect communities,” Flannigan said.
By pinpointing where wildfires are likely to take root, fire crews and helicopters can be efficiently deployed, Flannigan said. That advance warning is crucial when it can take from three to seven days to get outside resources to the fire, he noted.
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Image via Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta.
