California's Public Utilities Commission has planned a wildfire technology innovation summit, with private and state entities.
"The Summit is designed to initiate an ongoing dialogue between the technology industry, academic researchers, utilities and government on the needs and tools to address wildfire challenges," the summit's website reads.
The Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Sacramento State University and the University of California at San Diego are among the public entities that will be involved in the summit.
“We cannot just accept devastating wildfires as the new normal," CPUC President Michael Picker wrote in the summit press release. "California is the global leader in technology and innovation. We can develop game-changing solutions and get ahead of this problem.”
Artificial intelligence and machine learning to help inspect risk and regulatory compliance are two ideas that will be discussed at the summit. Fire behavior modeling, weather stations and laser radar are also solutions being considered.
More than 4 million residents live in high fire-risk areas, according to the CPUC. The same fire hazard map estimating how many residents are at risk defines up to 44 percent of California's land as being high risk.
The summit is planned for March 20-21, and registration is available here.
