Why Forest Fires?

Due to climate change, forest fires are burning at an increasing rate and at a higher intensity. Forest fires are devastating to the communities they directly effect, the ecosystems they destroy, and the habitat they displace. A single fire can burn millions of acres and destroy hundreds of homes.

Due the exponential growth of forest fires, rapid fire detection is critical to limiting fire damage. Currently, state-of-the-art forest fire detection devices can cost upwards of $70,000 and are still unable to provide first responders with the exact location of the fire. In 2018, the US Forest Service reported that a critical first step in the fight against forest fires is improving our current aging fire detection infrastructure.

FireWatch

FireWatch is a camera-based device that uses computer vision to automatically identify fires and provide first responder with the exact latitude and longitude of the fire. FireWatch aims to address the current failures in existing fires detection systems by providing reliable and accurate fire detection at a build price of only $110, a significant improvement over current systems.

What Makes FireWatch Better?

How does the fire detection Work?

Traditional machine learning forest fire detection algorithms are too energy and memory intensive for the light-duty FireWatch device and would drain all the devices battery in a matter of hours. To solve this problem, FireWatch uses a novel data sparsity algorithm that takes a full image and reduces it to the most important parts.

In this image, you can see 6.29 Million pixels, far too large to analyze, reduced to only 210 thousands pixels. This lower number of pixels is far more manageable for the FireWatch algorithm to analyze.

How does FireWatch determine the lat/long?

One of the more significant advancements in the FireWatch is system is its ability to turn the pixel coordinates of a fire into real life latitude and longitude. It does this through the FireWatch Localization Engine. The engine is able to match the image taken by one of the FireWatch devices to a Google Earth rendering of the same location and then use ray tracing to find the intersection of the Google Earth image and the FireWatch camera image. This system allows FireWatch to find the exact location of a fire ± 50 Meters.

In this image, you can see how the FireWatch Localization Engine repeated queries Google Earth's API in order to search for the closest matching terrain rendering in order to find the best possible match.

What is the future of FireWatch?

Currently, the first FireWatch devices are deployed in the Shenandoah Mountains near the border of Virginia and West Virginia. These devices are actively monitoring over 500,000 acres of land and have been able to identify two fires in the region. Currently, in collaboration with local partners, FireWatch is building infrastructure in Florida's Everglades, California's Sierra Nevada, and Colorado's Rocky Mountains.

Alright you've convinced me, how can I help?

FireWatch relies on donations in order to stay true to its goal of providing low-cost or free fire detection. You can support FireWatch by adopting a device, becoming a corporate sponsor, or donating any amount you can.

Corporate Sponsorships

Bronze: Personalized plaque from FireWatch

Silver: Company name listed on website and previous

Gold: Company logo listed on website and previous

Platinum: In person photoshoot with FireWatch leadership, a ceremonial FireWatch device to display, and all previous

FireWatch

By FireWatch

FireWatch

Reimagining Forest Fire Detection