“Earlier smoke detection”: Gironde firefighters rely on artificial intelligence to spot fires

In the Gironde department, still scarred by the summer 2022 fires that ravaged some 32,000 hectares, firefighters are relying on new tools to reduce the time between a fire starting and their response. In addition to the usual planes, helicopters, and trucks, they can also rely on artificial intelligence .

Combined with cameras at 22 sites in the department, whose data is fed back to a monitoring room in Bordeaux, AI was able to quickly detect the start of a fire in less than a minute on Friday, July 11. This is precious time to deal with fires that can spread very quickly.

"Artificial intelligence analyzes the phenomena and determines a location," Damien Nigon, a functional advisor, explained to BFMTV. "From there, we will ensure the durability and veracity of the smoke to be able to pinpoint the exact source of the phenomenon."

As Marc Vermeulen, departmental director of SDIS 33, adds, this system, which covers 98% of the territory, makes it possible "to detect different types of smoke much earlier, to have a real-time assessment of the civil security risk, at the operational room level, and from there to deploy the resources that we then consider necessary."

In addition to this artificial intelligence-based tool, Gironde firefighters are also deploying a drone equipped with a thermal camera and a laser rangefinder to help them detect fires day and night.

For the time being, the Gironde firefighters say they are not "concerned" about this summer season, but rather "increased vigilance, especially when we see the episodes that have occurred in the South-East ," Marc Vermeulen stressed.