Ai could predict wildfires before they iginite (Government of Alberta image)

By The Canadian Press

Artificial intelligence next step in forecasting wildfire behaviour

Oct 25, 2023 | 6:44 AM

EDMONTON – A provincial wildfire management specialist says Alberta is investing in artificial intelligence to try to predict where a wildfire may ignite before it happens.

Ed Trenchard, who plans responses to wildfires in the province, says that traditional predictions were lacking precise fire location forecasts.

He says the province partnered with software company Alta-M-L, which uses Microsoft’s Azure A-I technology, to develop a next-day fire-likelihood forecast system.

Trenchard says working with Alta-M-L has given the province an opportunity to bridge the knowledge gap from an experienced person to a less experienced person.

He says the A-I software provides additional information to fire officials which enables them to make critical decisions quickly.

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Graham Erickson, the senior lead machine learning developer for Alta-M-L, says the project may save two to five million dollars a year in resources that don’t get used during the pre-suppression stage of fighting wildfires.

He says Alberta has historically spent a lot of money on resources that didn’t end up being used, and that the new software could change that.

(The Canadian Press)