Fire Watch: Prediction and Detection of Wildfires Through Advanced AI/ML

Wildfires pose a growing threat to communities and ecosystems across the United States, exacerbated by climate change and expanding human habitation in fire-prone areas. Predicting and responding to wildfires quickly and effectively is crucial for minimizing damage and protecting lives. Traditional methods of wildfire prediction and management often rely on incomplete or outdated information, limiting the ability of firefighting teams to stage resources and respond promptly. Recent advances in deep learning and GPU processing offer a promising opportunity to enhance wildfire prediction and response. By utilizing deep learning models and a multitude of input datasets to predict pre-ignition wildfires at a 1 acre square grid across the entire U.S. These models integrate various data sources, such as several NASA science satellite data sets, commercial satellite data, historic weather data and patterns, vegetation indices, power lines, camp grounds, ignition types, and historical fire data, including ignition sources to provide accurate and timely predictions. In addition to the high spatial resolution, we are also generating updated wildfire predictions on the daily, hourly, and 30 min time-scales based on hyper-local weather data and forecasts. The methods we are employing provide predicted ignition events not simply risk which in many areas is relatively high all fire season long. With our experience in multi-satellite fusion across multi phenomenology's we are also able in integrate high spatial resolution commercial multispectral imagery (1-3m) as appropriate to improve actionable insights for specific regions of contiguous high risk.

NASA Earth Science Division (ESD): Earth Science Research Program, NASA's Applied Sciences Program: Disasters Program, Wildfire Applications, NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS): Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC): Earth Sciences Division, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL): Earth Science and Technology Directorate, NASA's SERVIR Program, NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS). Federal Agencies: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), United States Forest Service (USFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). State Departments of Forestry and Fire Protection, Local Fire Departments, State Emergency Management Agencies. The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Sierra Club. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), American Red Cross, CDC, Insurance Companies, Utility Companies, UNDRR, WMO, Agriculture and Forestry Businesses, Tech Companies.

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