WEF launches initiative to mitigate wildfire risks

During its annual meeting in Davos from 16-20 January 2023, the World Economic Forum launched FireAId - an initiative to mitigate wildfire risks using AI systems able to help to predict the riskiest locations and the best possible strategy to mitigate fire hazards.

Drawing from the report The Next Frontier in Fighting Wildfires: FireAId Pilot and Scaling, made in collaboration with Deloitte and Koç Holding, societies are now empowered with a disruptive technological innovation on the fronts of prediction, emergency response, and forest management.

The pilot study and solution approaches laid out in the report illustrate how promising AI interventions can be scaled and replicated in different geographical areas, allowing better prediction of wildfires and the more efficient use of resources during firefighting operations. 

It also sheds light on the way governments can align to support these efforts and explores avenues for the private sector to engage as part of multi-stakeholder partnerships that will advance the collective response to the escalating crisis. Considering that AI models can help predict which locations are at risk and the best possible strategy to mitigate fire hazards, more than 400 variables were analysed using an AI-based model which helps public bodies to conduct more precise decision-making - and more swiftly.

Wildfire severity, spread, and frequency have all increased as a result of climate change, thus posing a growing threat to forest ecosystems and high-risk rural areas. Critical services such as health and safety, forestry, natural disaster, and emergency relief agencies, and rural planning are overburdened and the strain on these resources is likely to grow. As the threat of wildfires increases, affecting several parts of the world today, technological innovation provides promising solutions.

This article is adapted from the report 'The Next Frontier in Fighting Wildfires: FireAId Pilot and Scaling'