Fires

I have lived in Santa Barbara long enough to remember our fires. Sitting on a rooftop with a hose with flames only 100 yards away has a strong impact on my memory! From those experiences I learned that timing is everything. When the fire is a few square yards, it only takes a few gallons of water to extinguish the fire. Wait a few more minutes and then nothing stops it.

Minutes count, so here is a solution. The cost to do what I propose is not cheap but far less than a fire and loss of lives.

(1) Full-time monitoring of the area by drones, until we get Google satellite mapping with AI.

(2) Automatic response by equipped fire-fighting drones.

This technology is available now and would save property and lives. Let’s not wait until we have another disaster that can and must be avoided. Let’s spend the money for monitoring so instant reaction is possible.

There are challenges like high wind conditions that make the use of aircraft difficult. Under those conditions we still need monitoring that can be achieved using remote cameras linked to fire monitors. Then if aircraft cannot fly due to the wind, we need firefighters at those locations.

This is probably the most challenging problem but given our amazing city I am sure solutions will be forthcoming.