Artificial intelligence won’t solve Cal Fire’s biggest challenge this wildfire season

by Thomas Hughes, Bay City News August 9, 2023August 8, 2023

California Army National Guard soldiers use chainsaws to cut a tree at Bonny Doon on Sept. 1, 2020, during the CZU Lightning Complex fire that burned more than 86,000 acres in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties. While Cal Fire increasingly relies on artificial intelligence-assisted methods of detecting wildfires, it still relies heavily on human beings to put out the flames. (Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza/U.S. Army National Guard via Flickr, CC BY)

Cal Fire will continue investing in technology to help fight wildfires, including a roughly $3.5 million pilot artificial intelligence program, but what it needs most is hand crews.

Santa Cruz County’s unincorporated areas saw fewer acres burned in wildfires in 2022 than 2021, and this year has been another milder year through July, according to a presentation Tuesday to the County Board of Supervisors by Cal Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit Chief Nate Armstrong. The presentation reviewed 2022 and gave an update on 2023.

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