Could tech replace firefighters in the battle against wildfires?

Here is a story making headlines in the economy: Could tech replace firefighters in the battle against wildfires? Image source, via Getty ImagesImage caption, France's Gironde region has been hit by devastating wildfires this summerByJohn LaurensonTechnology reporter, Reporting fromParisPublished1 hour agoThe pictures are familiar, terrifying fires being tackled by firefighters and planes dropping water. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes across France, Spain and Portugal as wildfires tore through forests and countryside.

In France, four men have already lost their lives fighting the wildfires and another 150 have been injured. But why are humans and 30-year old planes being used? Why can drones replace soldiers in Ukraine but not firefighters?

Economic Details

Chief sergeant Guillaume Millet, a firefighter of 24 years experience heads the Fire and Rescue Service branch of the CFDT union in the Gironde, the region worst hit by wildfires in France this summer. He says that while the techniques for tackling fire have not changed much, technology in forest fire detection has. "The big change, especially in my département, is that now we've got cameras assisted by artificial intelligence to watch the forest and see where fires are starting," Millet says.

"In the Gironde, cameras have replaced the human look-outs we had in watch towers in every town throughout the summer months," he says. Those lookouts were often students. The switch has reduced false alarms, he says.

"An AI-assisted camera can distinguish with almost total certainty between smoke and dust thrown up by a tractor in a field, for example. "They have an impressive range as well, detecting fires up to 20km (12 miles) away. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Catching fires early is essential - once established they are harder to manageIn the Gironde, the system was installed by a company called Midgard.

Analyst Views

In other parts of France, it's another French start-up called FireTracking. "As soon as the system detects a fire, there's an alert on the fire fighters' telephones. They open the application and see what the camera is seeing with a x40 zoom," explains FireTracking's CEO Jean-Simon Chaudier.

"Next to that real-time video there's a map with the exact location of the fire, the position of any nearby houses and a simulation of how, given the weather, the level of humidity and so on, it is expected to spread from minute to minute," he adds. And every minute is vital. "For the past 10 days, for example, we have the feedback from a firefighter that our AI detected seven fires 15 minutes before the first phone call.

If you can help a firefighter to save 15 minutes, it's the difference between a catastrophe and a fire which can be limited to two or three hectares," Chaudier says.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.