Extract from ABC News
Drones and AI technology are among the tools changing the face of firefighting. (Supplied)
In short:
Fire and disaster experts say new technologies and AI are key to managing future bushfires.
Drones and AI-cameras on fire towers are being trialled as a way to detect and fight fires.
There are calls for more funding to further research and develop new technologies.
Firefighting drones and water gliders. AI-powered fire detection. Remote sensors, satellites and live feeds to firefighters.
It's the future of firefighting and in the wake of the catastrophic Los Angeles blazes, disaster experts are urging Australian governments to invest heavily in these new technologies.
The Los Angeles fires has turned the focus on Australia's access to new technologies to fight blazes. (ABC News: Bradley McLennan)
It is a multi-layered approach designed to hit fires early and stop them exploding into deadly mega-blazes that can cause billions of dollars damage.
"We don't yet have the tools to actually address those very large fires," Associate Professor Roslyn Prinsley, head of the Australian National University's (ANU) Disaster Solutions team, said.
"We need to be able to detect them as soon as they ignite and put them out straight away."
Rapid advances in AI are enabling researchers across Australia to trial new methods of fire detection from high-speed optical recognition to computer modelling.
Roslyn Prinsley from the ANU's Disaster Solutions team says Australia doesn't have the tools to address very large fires. (Supplied)
AI also powers the NSW Rural Fire Service's world-first Athena fire analysis software that crunches data from mapping, weather reports, satellites and live feeds to predict fire behaviour far faster than manual comparison. It then supplies those insights to incident managers.
The ABC has spoken to fire experts around Australia to outline some of the latest technologies either being trialled or already deployed in the field in the ongoing battle against bushfires.
Scout drones
Scout drones are fitted with infrared cameras allowing for 24-hour operation. (Supplied)
At ANU Disaster Solutions, Ms Prinsley and her research team are developing new methods to help rapidly identify fires as they start.
"One of the main things we're looking at are these scout drones, which are kind of a drone that has all these sensors on it that can see a lightning ignition as soon as it starts," she said.
Aided by an onboard camera, the drone can fly toward a fire, pinpoint its exact location and map the impacted zone for responding ground crews.
It's infrared cameras also allow for 24-hour operation.
"And one of the real issues there that we've managed to overcome is that generally you can't fly drones beyond line of vision."
Scout drones are being developed by researchers at ANU's Disaster Solutions. (ABC News)
Water glider fire-bombing
Water gliders are an innovative approach being tested by Ms Prinsley's team in a rural part of the ACT.
"They are essentially disposable drones that you would fill with about half a ton of water and potentially some retardant," she said.
Water gliders are "disposable drones" being tested in a rural part of the ACT. (Supplied)
The pilotless gliders are designed to be dropped from a C-130 Hercules aircraft which flies above the weather.
"They travel 400 kilometres per hour, with a GPS to lock them onto the location that's provided to them by the scout drone."
Ms Prinsley believes there is not much point detecting a fire quickly, unless remote technologies can extinguish it just as fast.
"That is a real big challenge," she said
"We need 100 per cent coverage of all the ignitions. And to do that, we need lots of different technologies. We can't just rely on one."
The pilotless water gliders are designed to be dropped from a C-130 Hercules aircraft. (Supplied)
AI fire analysis software
The NSW Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS) launched its groundbreaking AI analysis software called Athena in 2023 in the wake of the deadly Black Summer bushfires and is constantly updating the system.
Athena's algorithms assess live data from the Bureau of Meteorology, satellite tracking, mapping, fuel loads and known fire behaviour patterns to deliver immediate insights to fire controllers in emergency operations centres.
Athena, the AI analysis software, was launched by the NSW Rural Fire Service in 2023. (Supplied: NSWRFS)
Social media feeds have recently been added to the intelligence it gathers.
"It can actually look at what the risks are for any given fire," NSWRFS Commissioner Rob Rogers said.
"So, we can have more than 120 fires burning at any one time and it'll always look at what's the number of structures that are most at risk from which fire over several hours."
The huge amounts of data Athena gathers once had to be compared manually.
It now provides those insights to fire analysts who can validate the information and make increasingly accurate predictions about fire spread.
"It's not trying to put all the eggs in one basket, but you've got to make a start on new technology and try and understand what it can deliver," Commissioner Rogers said.
Athena gathers huge amounts of data that once had to be compiled manually.
Another NSWRFS project is looking at using robotics to make fire trucks safer.
"We're working with the University of Western Sydney on things like a tethered drone, where you can send a drone up from a fire truck, but it's connected to that fire truck to give you better visibility over the trees, better communications," Mr Rogers said.
Starlink satellite communications systems are being installed in fire trucks, improving communications and delivering information from Athena and other systems live to firefighters.
"I think that's the important part of this, there's a lot of technology around, but what we've got to do is prove that it adds value and it's worth investing public money."
AI-camera fire towers
Cameras have been installed at a fire lookout at Mt Gordon in Victoria. (Supplied)
Victoria is trialling a $1.5 million network of AI-powered high resolution cameras positioned on top of seven of the 67 fire towers across the state.
The Remote Sensing Bushfire Detection project is being run in conjunction with the federal government and could lead to similar optical recognition systems being used elsewhere in Australia.
"Their algorithms are designed to look for smoke and it's still very new," Victorian Chief Fire Officer Chris Hardman said.
Chris Hardman, Victoria's chief fire officer, is hopeful Remote Sensing Bushfire Detection could soon be used in other parts of the country. (ABC News)
"So they can track and give us a GPS location as to where that smoke may be and it's at that stage then we will deploy an aircraft or confirm the sighting from other fire towers or other opportunities."
Mr Hardman said testing needed to cover a range of scenarios and weather patterns throughout the Australian bushland.
"Technology has done nothing but support and improve the way we fight fires in Australia and artificial intelligence — a lot of people have concerns about it — I just think it's got enormous potential.
"It doesn't make decisions for us. It gives us information to help guide the decisions that we as human beings make."
Mr Hardman says technology has improved the way fires are fought in Australia. (Supplied)
Satellite and remote sensing networks
The NSWRFS has also partnered with the Minderoo Foundation and Californian researchers to trial satellite-based technology to spot fires earlier through optical recognition.
It's another way firefighters hope to detect fires early enough to stop a major blaze breaking out.
"At the moment, we have to wait for either fire towers to spot them or someone to ring triple zero and report that fire," Mr Rogers said.
"We're hoping it'll actually get a lot quicker when this sort of technology is trialled and if indeed its proven and rolls out."
NSWRFS is trialling satellite-based technology to spot fires earlier through optical recognition. (ABC News)
Overseas, networks of remote sensors were also being trialled in forests to detect the airborne chemicals caused by ignition even before a camera can detect smoke or flames.
The sensors, which look like a Christmas tree ornament, are connected via the Internet of Things and results are quickly analysed by AI software to sound the alarm.
Several companies now supply the sensors, which have been tested in Sardinia, Indonesia and the US.
AI 'an aid, not a solution'
Experts said that while AI and other technologies held huge promise, they won't solve all our problems as climate change makes severe weather events more common.
Josh Wilkins worked as a firefighter for California's San Bernardino County Fire Department for nearly 30 years before becoming an adviser to venture-backed firetech startup, BurnBot.
"It's a tool in our toolbox now, which previously the past five years we have not had," Mr Wilkins said.
"There's always going to be a human in the loop. We're always going to have to physically put out or mitigate whatever disaster it is."
Experts say despite the advances in AI, humans will still need to be involved in the process. (Supplied: NSWRFS)
Mr Wilkins believes the recent LA fires, whipped up by 160 kilometre per hour Santa Ana winds, could never have been stopped once they started.
"We were at the mercy of mother nature, and there's nothing you can really do in a windstorm like that, especially when you're at the mercy of billions of little embers."
But Mr Wilkins said advances in fire technology had come a long way.
"It's a dangerous time, but it's also an exciting time to kind of get ahead of this because it's only getting worse."
That sentiment was echoed by Ms Prinsley, who is arguing for more investment in future firefighting methods.
"We've wasted so many years; like, if we'd had funding three years ago, we would probably have full-scale water gliders right now," she said.
"We're just not keeping up with climate change and it's only going to get worse."
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