Ryan Honary, a 17-year-old from Newport Harbor High School in California, recently deployed his revolutionary wildfire sensor powered by artificial intelligence, SensoRy AI, which he developed to detect fires before they spread uncontrollably.
As Earth.org explained, he thought of the idea after a devastating wildfire broke out near his family's home in 2018. After the harrowing ordeal, Honary began brainstorming solutions, and a light bulb went off when he remembered a heat detector he'd created for a fifth-grade school project.
Using that as the blueprint, he mapped out a plan for a wildfire detection system and built the first prototype, which was equipped with infrared sensors, a wireless sensor network, machine learning, AI, and a camera to identify smoke.
Honary was selected as a finalist in The Earth Prize 2024, the world's largest environmental competition for teenage students. The Earth Prize stated that SensoRy AI acts as "a mini-meteorological station" to detect wildfires and other natural disasters, including landslides and oil spills.
When the sensors identify a threat, they trigger alarms that notify emergency services and nearby residents who might be impacted, even in rural areas that lack communication networks.
Earth.org reported that the device can "detect fires as small as a square foot," making it ideal for use in California, where small sparks can often erupt into massive fires that destroy entire communities — such as what happened in the heartbreaking Palisades Fire.
Honary's unique wildfire detection system caught the eye of the Orange County Fire Authority, which deployed the device in Irvine last month. SensoRy AI will be installed in phases, the first of which focuses on high-risk burn areas in the 40,000-acre Irvine Open Space Preserve, a vital wilderness area in the city.
OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy told Earth.org: "Early detection is one of our greatest weapons in what has become a year-round fire season, empowering crews to more safely and effectively execute the robust and rapid initial attack required to keep wildfires small."
As the planet continues to warm, large wildfires are becoming more frequent and harder to contain, especially in places like California, where warm, dry summers create the ideal fuel for wildfires to spark.
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Definitely 👍 However, innovative solutions like Honary's will help safeguard communities and the planet from the threats of our changing climate. Since SensoRy AI isn't expensive to develop, it can be easily scaled to deploy in other locations worldwide.
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The system will be stationed just around Irvine for now, but Honary has big plans for the future. According to SensoRy AI's website, the early detection tech can be utilized for various applications, including measuring air quality and detecting sparks on utility infrastructure.
The sky is the limit for SensoRy AI, and it's exciting to think about how the technology will progress moving forward. Honary has proved that anyone can take local climate action, and you don't always need a plan to get started.
"The applications of this technology are limitless and will work to help prevent disasters, reduce production and maintenance costs, and save lives," SensoRy AI said.
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