Teen’s invention provides look at the future of firefighting

By Michele Gile, Dean Fioresi

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    ORANGE COUNTY, California (KCAL/KCBS) — An Orange County teenager’s lifelong passion could change the future of firefighting, with his recent invention becoming the latest tool adopted by local fire departments to help stop wildfires before they grow out of control.

Ryan Honary, a Newport Beach high schooler and founder of SensoRy AI, officially partnered with the city of Irvine and the Orange County Fire Authority to deploy his artificial intelligence-driven wildfire detection system in the Irvine Open Space Preserve on Monday, a 40,000 acre swath of land that connects to the Cleveland National Forest.

“I’m actually very excited because this is our very first deployment,” Honary said. “The whole idea of my platform is to be able to detect the fire when it is smaller than one foot by one foot. The idea is that by the time the firefighters are there to put it out, a human shouldn’t have even been able to see it from their house.”

The invention combines AI, machinery and a wireless mesh sensor network to detect a fire in its earliest stages. It aims to immediately alert firefighters with instant notifications and constant real-time updates on the potential growth, speed and direction it’s burning.

“So, it would take a picture of that fire, it would detect it from its infrared and maybe smoke as well and then it would instantly send that information as an email text or push notification to the Orange County Fire Authority’s phones,” Honary said.

He put his work to the test in Irvine’s Qual Hill open space, close to where the 1993 Laguna Fire sparked. He’s been working on it since he was in fifth grade after he watched the devastating blaze destroyed hundreds of homes.

Firefighters say it’s this type of technology that could be one of their most valuable tools when it comes to preventing the devastation recently seen in Los Angeles County, when the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted.

“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,” said OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy.

Honary has partnered with OCFA for several years now after receiving $250,000 in funding from the Irvine Ranch Conservancy. In the time since, Fennessy has mentored the teen who he is now beyond proud of and grateful for. He says that the technology will better enable them to provide real-time data to crews on scene, including where to allocate their resources.

This year alone, California wildfires have already consumed more than 57,000a acres, killed over two dozen people and caused north of $250 billion in economic losses.

A new group of Honary’s detectors will be deployed along SR-133 heading into Laguna Beach. By the end of the year, OCFA hopes to have 25 detectors installed in their most fire prone areas.

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