How AI is helping spot wildfires faster

Beyond that, the alerts can help first responders arrive more quickly, too. While a motorist or airplane pilot may call in a smoke report for a general area, Descartes' text-based tool narrows down where the fire is. "That's very beneficial," Griego said, "especially at night when it's hard to determine what mountain range this fire's actually on when you're on top of a peak 20 miles away." The need for all manner of fire-fighting solutions is growing as climate change worsens wildfires across California and the Southwestern US. Wildfires blazed through California's wine country and the Los Angeles area in October, less than a year after a devastating fire leveled the California town of Paradise.