The frequency and the intensity of fires are increasing, heightening the risk of heat-related disasters. As such, emerging technologies like artificial Intelligence (AI) and supporting data play an increasingly significant role in firefighting.
Established 50 years ago, at a time when roughly 12,000 people a year died in fires, the federal U.S. Fire Administration focuses on preparation, prevention and response in support of fire and emergency medical services across all levels of government. That number comes from U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell; and by 2022, the most recent year for which information is available, annual fire deaths had fallen to 3,790. But while annual fire deaths have declined since the administration’s creation, data from recent years shows them trending upward again.
And over the past five decades, the agency’s role has changed, Moore-Merrell said: “The fire threats today are vastly different than they were 50 years ago.”
She highlighted several changes in fire threats during that time period. First, some buildings have not been retrofitted for fire safety because legislation mandating certain fire safety regulations did not pass until 1992. Second, climate change has been a catalyst for an increase in wildfire threats — a term now applied across a wider area and which demands modern response techniques. “Wildfire threats,” Moore-Merrell noted, once described primarily trees and vegetation burning — but since residential developments have been built in fire-prone areas, have led to suburban conflagrations, as was seen in Colorado’s Marshall Fire and the Lahaina Fire in Hawaii.
A third change in the fire risk landscape is the emergence of lithium-ion batteries. Found in tech-forward products like cellphones and electric scooters, these batteries can pose fire risks if they are damaged or charged incorrectly.
“As technology evolves, we’re going to have to watch for fire risk,” Moore-Merrell said. “We’re seeing all of the fire risk across the nation change.”
The administration, which has operated on a legacy data system built in 1976, is changing too. It got a limited update in 2002 but, for example, still lacks a way to input data about lithium-ion batteries. About two-and-a-half years ago, the agency started a modernization effort to build a platform called the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS). The platform is intended to unify the administration’s disparate data streams on the variables that impact fire risk, from weather and climate change to the built environment and population migration.
Several local departments started testing NERIS in February and more will be onboarded this summer. The goal is to make the platform available this fall for wider use.
Notably, NERIS will leverage AI — specifically, machine learning — to identify patterns, allowing the assessment of national emergency response data to recognize patterns in risk and enable proactive intervention if needed.
The U.S. Fire Administration is leveraging data that already exists, Moore-Merrell said, as a key part of a strategy to allow quick progress. However, as part of this new platform, the agency has also written a new data standard for higher-quality data.
Another key piece of this work, Moore-Merrell explained, is a culture change around the importance of data. As data has been underutilized at the federal level, she said there has been a trickle-down effect in that mindset, resulting in other levels of government not prioritizing data literacy to address fire risk either. The goal here is to reduce the burden of data entry on firefighters, to improve the timeliness and quality of data.
“So, this is where we're going to see a huge increase, I think, in data quality,” Moore-Merrell said, noting that it will enable a greater understanding of the changing risk landscape.
DATA FOR CLEAN AIR ACCESS
While data can help inform national fire management strategy for proactive response, another major component of fire risk response is air quality: both measuring it and mapping access to clean air.
Climate change has increased air quality concerns, a trend expected to continue. However, data can play an important role in addressing this issue.
In June, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) launched an interactive, statewide map with information on the location of, and services available at, Clean Air Centers — which offer residents a place with clean filtered air during air quality emergencies like wildfires. The map includes whether the centers have Wi-Fi and can accommodate medical devices.
CARB worked with Esri to develop the map, which is now expected to be added this month as a layer to the California Smoke Spotter mobile app. The map highlights the impact of a $5 million pilot program intended to create a statewide network of centers by funding ventilation system updates. Approximately 200 of the centers on this new map were created through the program.
The map, said Amy MacPherson, a CARB information officer, is designed to ensure residents have as much information in one place as possible — rather than having to rely on messaging from local organizations and disparate information systems. Its creators focused on centers that had been part of the pilot, but included other local government, nonprofit and private centers, too.
Extended fire seasons, MacPherson said, have impacted access to clean air, which will likely be an ongoing issue. “So, the hope is that this will raise awareness and potentially help secure additional funding for more centers.”
