How to Put Out the “Bad” Fires

Not every fire is bad — prescribed burns are essential for forest management. But when wildfires threaten communities, the response workflow is complex and time-critical. This analysis dissects the wildfire response chain through the lens of venture opportunities at every stage.

Dissecting the wildfire response workflow through the lens of ventures Not every fire is bad — in fact, prescribed and managed fires are necessary for proper forest management. They create the black-and-green checkerboard across the forest and serve as natural dampers to lower the fire intensity when flames do occur in dry conditions. The “good” fires, therefore, are an effective one-step-backward-for-two-steps-forward approach in disaster management. However, the reality is that this is much easier said than done. Whereas a natural wildfire is categorized as an emergency, unlocking hazard pay for firefighters and allowing for relaxed regulations for efficient management of the fires, planned burns are human-made events that are subject to much more stringent environmental compliance rules. There is also inherent incentive misalignment in that the fire departments will not bear the consequences of deciding not to light, but will certainly be penalized if they intentionally start the fire, and something unfortunately goes awry. This post focuses on the “bad” fires, and how best to prevent, detect, and respond to those. Fortunately, the venture ecosystem is rich with start-ups leveraging a number of emerging technologies to solve for this piece of the puzzle. Below is my current interpretation of the overall cycle of wildfire management along with a few ventures that hone in on different aspects of the workflow. Wildfire Response Venture Landscape 1. Predict & Prevent Like most unfortunate events, the best way to deal with them is preventing them from ever happening. In the case of wildfire prevention, continuous monitoring and analyses of geospatial data and satellite imageries over time are often utilized to identify early signals for at-risk regions. An illustrative example within the venture ecosystem is Pixxel , which specializes in providing a unique layer of overall situational awareness by developing their own proprietary hyperspectral nanosatellites with

By Multiple Authors at TechNexus Venture Collaborative