Fire safety is no joke, and sometimes it becomes tough for the front-line firefighters to extinguish the fire on time and control the emergency.
Front line firefighters not only have to protect the lives of the occupants of the building, but they also have to take measures to protect property.
Firefighters have to take care of the fire emergency while making it safe for themselves and others. They have a huge responsibility on their shoulders.
Artificial Intelligence helps these front-line firefighters contain the fire emergency and deal with the stressful situation they face while dealing with fire.
In this article, we will cover the applications of Artificial Intelligence in the line of fire safety.
Artificial Intelligence for Front Line Workers
The first major problem that frontline firefighters face during dealing with a fire emergency is poor visibility due to excessive smoke and wild flames engulfing the place and the objects inside.
In such cases, objects like staircases, doors, and partitions become a huge hindrance in the way of the firefighters, and clearing the way becomes an ulterior motive.
This is how rescue operations become more complicated, as the firefighters have to save as many lives as possible.
Artificial Intelligence has introduced Computer Vision technology to resolve this problem, which helps frontline firefighters deal with any vision problems.
A camera is mounted on the front of the helmet of the firefighters. The camera ends live footage to the processor, which will process any objects present in the vicinity.
Firefighters are equipped with AR glasses where the processing of the camera is shown. Through the AR glasses, the firefighters can successfully any object causing hindrance in their mobility towards the areas engulfed with fire.
Heat is the second major problem that can cause lethal situations in case of a fire emergency. The heat from the deadly fire flames can cause sudden heart attacks, suffocation, breathing issues, and even seizures and panic attacks.
Most of the deaths of frontline firefighters are caused due to one of the above conditions. This problem was never solved before the introduction and application of Artificial Intelligence in fire safety.
Now, the vitals of the firefighter can be easily monitored by using the Internet of Things. Sensors are used to detect the levels and concentrations of oxygen in the firefighter’s body.
Temperature sensors check the body temperature to ensure that the weather is within safe ranges.
An in-built recommendation system keeps the firefighter updated with his condition and informs him if his vitals are going out of the normal ranges.
The information is processed in a processor, and a signal is sent to the supporting team, which then informs the firefighter to leave the site as soon as possible.
AUDREY
It stands for Assistant for Understanding Data through Reasoning, Extraction, and Synthesis. AUDREY is one of the latest Artificial Intelligence technologies that collect data from every possible aspect to help firefighters contain fire emergencies.
Above, we have discussed how different sensors keep the firefighter updated about the nearby objects and his own body to extinguish the fire while holding him and other occupants safe and sound.
However, AUDREY helps the firefighter detect the kind and nature of fire emergency and helps the fighter devise a plan to contain the fire.
For example, suppose the system detects excessive Carbon dioxide in the area. In that case, it will automatically inform the firefighter about the abnormal abundance of gases so that his fire extinguishing plan can work efficiently according to the nature of the emergency.
AUDREY is the latest technology developed by NASA, which uses Artificial Intelligence to help the fire fighting teams by giving them the idea of the nature of the emergency to make them aware of what they are facing and what they have to deal with.
It collects data by sensing different danger signals like, increase in temperature, the presence of gases, etc., and informs the fire respondents accordingly.
Leveraging Wild Fires with Artificial Intelligence
Forest fires can be lethal as the spread is quick and cause deadly effects on forest life. Two basic approaches can be used to deal with wildfires using artificial intelligence.
Image-based Approach
As the name shows, drones are used to detect fire ignition and its extent. Through this, the fire fighting authorities analyze how to deal with the problem.
Sensor-based Approach
In a sensor-based approach, different sensors predict the fire ignition and the extent of a fire emergency. Sensors work by detecting the levels of other gases in the air.
These gases include; oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, etc. Along with thee sensors, temperature and humidity sensors also help the fire officials to predict the fire emergency.
After detection of the emergency, firefighters use different kinds of fire extinguishers to deal with the fires. A water extinguisher is a most commonly used hand portable fire extinguisher used in fire extinguishing.
These were some of the uses of Artificial Intelligence in the fire fighting domain, and it is believed that more advancement can be made in this field.
