How multifaceted tech can help tame Australia's bushfire threat

Following a warmer than expected winter and high fuel loads in many areas, Australian authorities are bracing for a destructive bushfire season.

Steps are being taken to reduce the risk of outbreaks and ensure fire crews have trained personnel, as well as all the relevant proactive and reactive training and equipment needed to effectively respond. If the Northern Hemisphere summer was any guide, it’s going to be a tough season Down Under.

The bushfire challenge comes at a time when overall temperatures are rising. Indeed, research by scientists at NASA confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record.¹

Recently the National Council for Fire and Emergency Services released its bushfire forecast for spring 2024. It predicts there will be an increased risk of fires across large parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory as well as far-west Victoria and south-east South Australia.

Overcoming the challenge

Unfortunately, there is no single solution to the bushfire problem. Rather, it will require a combination of human effort and multifaceted capabilities, including technologies to lower threat levels and losses.

One example of how this combination can make a difference relates to fires started by Australia’s electricity grid. The vast majority of the grid is above ground and, if sparks are created, they can light nearby dry fuel such as trees and grasses.

The deployment of surge arresters on transmission lines and associated equipment can protectively divert excess voltage from electrical surges or lightning to the ground. A device known as a spark prevention unit (SPU) can monitor the surge arrester’s current and thermal load.

If an overload is detected, the SPU interrupts the current flow and disconnects the surge arrester. This prevents any arcing, sparking or ejection of hot particles that can start a bushfire.

Some SPUs are equipped with wireless capabilities that can transmit details of any surges back to a central control room. This allows human operators to check the area and ensure that no fire was sparked.

The role of AI, ML and drones

The chance of destructive bushfires being caused by powerlines can be further reduced with the use of drones. When deployed in repeated patterns to capture images and data, their analytics-based inspection software can quickly identify defects in powerline and grid assets by leveraging customised artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models.

The software can automate what were previously manual defect assessments and instantly analyse thousands of multi-angle images from different sources including photographic, video, LiDAR, thermal and satellite images.

The software can also conduct identification, cataloguing and health evaluation. Associated computer vision algorithms and ML can determine the failure potential of granular assets like dampers, ceramic disks, pins, insulators and wooden poles. When required, humans can become involved with inputs that further train the AI models.

It’s important for electricity operators to have in place an effective data system capable of processing and analysing the massive amounts of visual data collected. This data will also need to be combined with sensor data and historical data, to get the most accurate view of what’s happening — and what likely will happen — on the ground.

When it comes to detecting and fighting bushfires, fast data processing that gets the right alerts to the right people who can make proactive decisions is vital.

Air quality monitoring

As well as helping to stop bushfires before they get out of control, multifaceted technologies can also be used to better understand the impact of the associated smoke on people and animals. In late 2023, Sydney residents woke to find the city blanketed in thick smoke generated by a large bushfire in northern New South Wales, and similar events are likely to occur this summer.

For this reason, authorities need end-to-end systems capable of ingesting air-quality data from Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, meteorological sources, and other tools. Finely tuned AI/ML and advanced data analytics can then be applied to build rigorous predictive models for air quality.

Additional capabilities

There are a range of other multifaceted technologies that can offer further support when it comes to preventing or managing bushfires. For example, there is new mapping software available designed to monitor factors such as vegetation growth and encroachment on assets like homes and public infrastructure.

There is also satellite technology that can pinpoint the unusual heat of bushfires as they occur, and solar-powered sensors on trees that can measure gas and humidity and report this back to a control centre. AI tools can also help battle the fire itself by predicting its movement, so firefighters can determine the best placement of equipment and firebreaks.

Bushfires are going to remain an unfortunate feature of Australian summers for the foreseeable future. However, by taking advantage of a range of rapidly evolving multifaceted technologies, authorities and private-sector organisations can be in a much stronger position to respond.

_{1. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/01/01/2023-was-earths-hottest-year-experts-say/71882923007/}

George Dragatsis has more than 25 years’ experience in the IT industry and is currently ANZ Chief Technology Officer of Hitachi Vantara, based in Sydney. He previously worked in solutions architecture roles for organisations including Nimble Storage, Dimension Data, VMware and Data#3.

Image credit: iStock.com/Philip Thurston