California Wildfires: How AI Technology is Revolutionising the Fight

This year, intense winds and extended drought conditions have made the crisis even worse. Wet years fueled vegetation growth, but dry spells left the landscape dangerously flammable.

The winds have forced over 100,000 people to evacuate and destroyed homes and infrastructure. By mid-January, fires raged across the region, including in iconic areas like Hollywood. Firefighting efforts, though heroic, couldn’t stop the spread. Water shortages, parched vegetation, and relentless winds made containment difficult. With no significant rainfall in sight, the region remains at high risk.

The evidence is clear: climate change is here, intensifying natural disasters and straining ecosystems. Human activities, especially fossil fuel consumption, worsen the problem and accelerate the crisis.

The Fossil Fuel Industry

Prioritising Profits Over the Planet

The fossil fuel industry drives climate change by releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Yet, it continues to prioritize profits over sustainability. This approach is not only short-sighted—it’s reckless. It ignores ecological limits and threatens the delicate balance of life on Earth.

California’s wildfires reveal this systemic failure. Profit takes precedence over environmental health, accelerating destruction. While the fossil fuel industry’s practices amplify the fire risk, another critical challenge looms: the heartbreaking lack of real-time information when it’s needed most. 

Power station – Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

The Heartbreak of Missing Information

Wildfires devastate not only with flames but also with helplessness.  For many, the real horror isn’t just the fire—it’s the absence of timely, critical data when they needed it most.

Dr. Pagán’s Personal Story

Dr. Brianna Pagán experienced this firsthand. When the Palisades Fire destroyed her home, she could not access real-time satellite data despite her expertise in remote sensing. In addition, power outages, poor cell reception, and missing fire map updates left her without critical information.

The Limitations of Existing Technology

She relied on unreliable crowdsourced updates. NASA FIRMS and other technologies failed to provide the high-resolution, real-time data she needed. Dr. Pagán criticised the geospatial industry for prioritising military and commercial interests over humanitarian needs.

Terms for latency defined and agreed upon by participants across NASA for all data managed by EOSDIS

A Call for Change: Making Real-time Data Accessible 

Dr. Pagán called for open, user-friendly disaster data systems integrated with official communication channels. These systems should focus on saving lives, not profits.

The Painful Truth

Life-saving technology exists, but it’s often inaccessible when it matters most. Communities face wildfires unprepared—not because solutions don’t exist, but because access, reliability, and usability remain out of reach.

Why the Community Was Left in the Dark

The true horror of wildfires wasn’t just the flames—it was the lack of life-saving data. Families scrambled to evacuate, but power outages, downed cell service, and inaccessible real-time satellite data left them without the information they desperately needed. Despite technological advances, mismanagement and barriers blocked access to these tools, leaving families to make life-or-death decisions in confusion. What went wrong?

Systemic Failures

• Data Latency: NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) crosses the equator 14 times daily to provide global coverage twice a day. However, its satellite data can take hours to process, and by the time it becomes available, conditions may have changed. This leaves communities without timely information for critical decisions like evacuations.
• Geostationary Satellite Limitations: While geostationary satellites monitor continuously, their lower resolution and slower processing times delayed fire detection. By the time the data was ready, the fast-moving fires were already out of control. Residents had no timely guidance.
• Resolution Limitations: Public satellite systems like FIRMS lack the resolution needed to detect small, emerging fire hotspots. First responders and residents couldn’t track developing fires, putting their safety at risk.
• Limited Accessibility: Satellite data is often restricted, especially in crises. Services like NASA’s FIRMS aren’t designed for real-time, user-friendly access. Communities were forced to rely on unreliable, crowdsourced data, complicating evacuation and protection efforts.

Public Alert System Failures

• Erroneous Notifications: Public alert systems failed to deliver accurate warnings. Evacuation orders sometimes reached areas already consumed by flames, or they missed residents entirely. This caused confusion and panic.
• Delayed Warnings: The delay between fire detection and issuing alerts left communities unprepared. This gap eroded trust in official communication channels at a critical time.

Infrastructure Challenges

• Power Outages and Connectivity Issues: The fires disrupted power supplies and cell networks. This left many communities unable to receive alerts, access satellite data, or contact emergency services.
• Water Supply Limitations: As demand surged, water hydrants ran dry. Nearby reservoirs needed repairs, reducing the community’s ability to fight fires or buy time for evacuation.

The Role of Private Satellite Providers

Private satellite companies like Maxar and Planet Labs operate high-resolution satellites. They offer rapid tasking and near-real-time imaging. However, these services are often inaccessible in fast-moving disasters and are typically available only to paying clients.

The Challenge of Real-Time Wildfire Response

Real-time wildfire response requires integrating satellite imagery with ground-based observations, AI analysis, and public communication systems. While solutions like FireSat are in development, they are not widely accessible.

The Accessibility Gap: Profit vs. Humanitarian Needs

The gap between public and private access to fire data is concerning. Life-saving information is often locked behind paywalls, prioritizing profit over humanitarian needs.

NASA’s Operational Disruptions Amid the Los Angeles Fires

The challenges of accessing crucial data were further highlighted by disruptions experienced by NASA’s Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Due to high winds, power outages, and evacuations, NASA’s data processing capabilities were temporarily halted, NASA’s data processing capabilities were temporarily halted. This impacted real-time data, including Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS).

This disruption underscores the vulnerability of data infrastructure during fast-moving disasters and highlights the need for complementary systems that can provide critical information more quickly and accurately in real-time.

Revolutionising Wildfire Management

exci’s AI-Wildfire Detection Technology

Wildfires are an escalating global threat, demanding innovative solutions for early detection and swift response. While satellites contribute valuable data, exci’s AI-powered wildfire & bushfire detection system delivers faster, more precise real-time wildfire alerts and enhanced monitoring capabilities.

At exci, we are dedicated to making a difference. Our cutting-edge, Australian-made AI-driven system provides real-time bushfire and wildfire detection, enabling diverse industries to proactively safeguard their assets and communities.

How exci Works

exci places high-resolution cameras in strategic locations to monitor critical areas. These cameras capture images, which are then analyzed by advanced AI algorithms to detect smoke. This allows exci to identify potential wildfires within minutes, enabling quick action to save lives, property, and ecosystems.

For instance, during the January 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles, detection times varied. The Kenneth Fire was quickly reported, but the Pacific Palisades fire experienced major delays—evacuation orders came only after homes had already ignited. These cases highlight the urgent need for faster detection and communication, which exci’s early AI-forest fire detection system addresses effectively.

The Advantages of Ground-Based Systems

exci’s system provides significant benefits over traditional satellite systems:

• Real-Time Detection: Ground-based cameras offer continuous monitoring, enabling near-instantaneous detection of wildfire indicators.
• High Accuracy: exci’s advanced deep learning algorithms provide robust, real-time alerts with a near-zero false positive rate.
  Reduced Latency: Unlike satellites, which can take hours to deliver data, exci’s system provides immediate feedback, allowing rapid decision-making.

Integrating Satellite Data for Enhanced Coverage

exci enhances satellite capabilities by integrating ground-based camera data with satellite imagery. This enables rapid and accurate bushfire detection. This combination allows for rapid and precise wildfire detection.

Ground-based cameras offer quick detection during the day, while satellites provide wide-area coverage, nighttime fire detection, and reliable performance in remote or harsh conditions.

Real-Time Fire Management

Wildfire Detection/Monitoring Needs Public Funding

Reliable, real-time information is essential to combat wildfires that increasingly threaten communities. Governments must fund systems that protect lives, infrastructure, and the environment. Like Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), which provides critical weather services with public funding, governments should ensure access to advanced wildfire detection and monitoring systems.

The BoM demonstrates how public institutions deliver essential services, helping communities prepare for extreme weather. This same approach should apply to wildfire detection. exci’s AI wildfire detection system provides real-time insights for informed decision-making.

exci (formerly Fireball International) commissioned the Australian National University (ANU) to assess bushfire costs from 2020 to 2049. The study estimated annual costs could reach A$2.2 billion, with Black Summer-scale events driving even higher expenses. However, ANU highlights that early fire detection investments could save up to A$14.4 billion over the same period, underscoring the value of proactive measures in a warming climate.

A Call to Action: Concrete Steps for Change

California’s wildfires highlight the need for systemic change. Here’s what governments, industries, and individuals must do:

• Governments must shift to renewable energy, enforce stricter building codes, and invest in sustainable practices. They must fund life-saving technologies like exci’s AI-powered bushfire detection system to improve early detection and response.
• Industries must adopt green technologies, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and use AI-driven solutions to protect infrastructure and improve situational awareness during crises.
• Communities should advocate for stronger environmental policies, support renewable energy, and engage in fire preparedness to protect local ecosystems.
• Individuals can reduce their carbon footprint, conserve water, cut waste, and create defensible spaces around their homes. Simple actions, like using public transport and staying informed about fire safety, can make a big difference.

Final Thoughts

The California wildfires are a stark reminder of the escalating threats posed by climate change, human negligence, and systemic failures. Behind the flames are heartbreaking stories of lives uprooted, homes destroyed, and communities left vulnerable—not because solutions don’t exist, but because access to critical, life-saving technologies remains limited.

It doesn’t have to be this way. By embracing innovation, like Exci’s AI-powered wildfire detection system, and prioritizing the dissemination of timely, accurate information, we can better equip communities to confront this growing crisis.

The path forward requires collaboration between technology providers, policymakers, and communities. Together, we can shift from a reactive approach to proactive prevention—mitigating the devastating impacts of wildfires, saving lives, and preserving what matters most.