VIDEO: Some of the brightest and most environmentally conscientious firefighters, innovative thinkers and conservationists are gathering for a summit this week in downtown Denver on how to better prevent, detect and suppress catastrophic wildfires.
The group has helped to launch an $11 million, 4-year competition called XPRIZE Wildfire where individuals and companies compete in two categories: Space-based detection of wildfires and autonomous detection and response to wildfires.
The end game of the competition? “Aiming to innovate technology to end destructive wildfires,” said Andrea Santy, program director for XPRIZE Wildfire. “We want to be able to find wildfires when they’re small, because the smaller they are, the easier it is to be able to manage them.”