At this time of year, periodic rain showers on the north coast of California give way to months of daily sunshine and a wildfire risk that grows in severity until the next fall rains arrive. In Sonoma County, a new set of eyes is watching over the forest. Those eyes will be able to tap into an artificial intelligence program to make sure emergency dispatchers are alerted to actual fires instead of mist rising off the forest floor or steam from the region's numerous natural geysers. The county has entered into a $300,000 contract with South Korea technology firm Alchera to provide artificial intelligence software that can alert fire dispatchers to the precise location of flames or smoke. The two-year pilot project is funded through $3 million in hazard mitigation grants that the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded to the county.

Sonoma County will bolster its nascent network of fire-lookout cameras with artificial intelligence that aims to automatically identify potential wildfire starts and provide alerts even when no one is watching. County officials announced the program Wednesday after awarding a $300,000 contract to Alchera, Inc., a South Korea-based company that develops algorithms for visual artificial intelligence systems. The technology, which is promising but still in development, is meant to automate Sonoma County's alert-and-warning efforts to provide more of a heads-up in case a wildfire starts, said Chris Godley, the county's emergency management director. "This is really designed to help us catch those extremely early starts, so it gives us that much more time to investigate and, if need be, respond," Godley said. Most of the funding for the new technology comes from a $2.7 million grant the county received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with the county chipping in about $75,000.

Sonoma County is adding artificial intelligence to its wildfire-fighting arsenal. The county has entered into an agreement with the South Korean firm Alchera to outfit its network of fire-spotting cameras with software that detects wildfire activity and then alerts authorities. But emergency workers will first have to "teach" the system to differentiate between images that show fire smoke, and others that might show clouds, fog, or vapor from geothermal geysers. The software will use feedback from humans to refine its algorithm and will eventually be able to detect fires on its own -- or at least that's what county officials hope. "It's kind of like learning how to read," Godley said.