A tech integration company wants to use a new type of artificial intelligence to fight wildfires by using predictive analysis before the fires even start and AI logistics to help contain them. MIAMI - It is no secret wildfires are growing more frequent, more expensive to fight and rebuild from, more widespread, and more sustained than ever before. A Virginia-based technology integration company called Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC, wants to use a new type of artificial intelligence to fight those fires by using predictive analysis before the fires even break out and then AI logistics to help contain them. "They need to understand where fires can occur, where they're occurring and where they're going," SAIC chief climate scientist Stephen Ambrose said. "And even after the fire -- what happens after that?"

The high-tech help could come from an area not normally associated with fighting wildfires: artificial intelligence (AI).

With wildfires becoming bigger and more destructive as the western part of the United States dries out and heats up, agencies and officials tasked with preventing and battling the blazes could soon have a new tool to add to their arsenal of prescribed burns, pick axes, chainsaws and aircraft. The high-tech help could come from an area not normally associated with fighting wildfires: artificial intelligence (AI). Lockheed Martin Space, based in Jefferson County, is tapping decades of experience in managing satellites, exploring space and providing information to the US military to offer more accurate data quicker to ground crews. It is talking to the US Forest Service, university researchers, and a Colorado state agency about how their technology could help. By generating more timely information about on-the-ground conditions and running computer programs to process massive amounts of data, Lockheed Martin representatives say they can map fire perimeters in minutes rather than the hours it can take now.

Lockheed testing artificial intelligence to fight wildfires … JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo.

"Recognizing patterns, learning from experience, drawing conclusions, making predictions, or taking action," said Dan Lordan, senior manager for AI integration at Lockheed Martin Artificial Intelligence Center. All those words describe artificial intelligence. Lockheed Martin, whose space division is based out of Jefferson County, wants to use AI to help gather critical details during a wildland fire. Lordan says it starts with mapping out a wildfire. It can take hours to determine the size, shape, location and areas emitting the most heat.

As wildfires become tougher to control, one company is looking to fight the flames with tech. Compta Emerging Business is the winner of this year's Watson Build Competition sponsored by IBM. The Portugal-based company developed a solution that uses its patented spectrometric analysis technology to detect fires automatically within 5 minutes of ignition and within a range of up to 15 kilometers. "We are bringing artificial intelligence to the game so wildfires can be detected at the earliest stage," said Vasco Correia, Director of International Business at Compta. "We can detect very early and we can recommend firefighting measures."

The Pentagon said it is using its push into artificial intelligence to find ways to improve how wildfires are fought. The Pentagon has launched a program to use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze data collected by drones to improve how wildfires are fought. The program is one of two efforts unveiled by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) reflecting the agency's new AI strategy to work with academia and industry to fast-track adoption of advanced data-management techniques. One project use algorithms to assess still photo and video imagery to predict the paths of wildfires and improve efforts to contain them. The second project uses data from sensors on helicopters used by special-operations forces to predict when the vehicles might require maintenance.

Where there's smoke, there's fire--and soon there will be drones, too. The aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin has developed a number of autonomous aircraft that can work together to fight fires and rescue people, without humans having to risk their lives. The setup uses two small drones to provide reconnaissance, and two automated helicopters to carry out the tasks of putting out fires and recovering stranded victims. First, a quadcopter drone uses thermal and visible light imaging to identify the location of a fire. It then shares that information with a cargo helicopter that's been converted to fly without a pilot, which is able to carry water to the scene to extinguish the flames.