Trump wants to use AI to prevent wildfires. Utilities are trying. Will it work?

The United States has already experienced more wildfires this year than it has over same period in any other year this decade, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

With the risk of fire expected to grow due to climate change and other factors, utilities have increasingly turned to technology to help them keep up. And those efforts could get a boost following President Donald Trump’s June 12 executive order calling on federal agencies to deploy technology to address “a slow and inadequate response to wildfires.”

The order directed agencies to create a roadmap for using “artificial intelligence, data sharing, innovative modeling and mapping capabilities, and technology to identify wildland fire ignitions and weather forecasts to inform response and evacuation.” It also told federal authorities to declassify historical satellite datasets that could be used to improve wildfire prediction, and called for strengthening coordination among agencies and improving wildland and vegetation management.

Read more at Utility Dive