Detecting Wildfires with Artificial Intelligence

Discover how artificial intelligence helps detect wildfires faster, reduce false alerts, and support quicker response across millions of acres in Brazil.

Laura Clark Murray

February 24, 2025

5 minutes read

Wildfires often begin with small, easily missed signals. A thin plume of smoke rising behind a treeline. A faint shift in the color of the sky. A subtle flicker in warm air that could be anything at all. Yet, in the wrong conditions, these quiet signs can mark the start of a dangerous spread of fire. In many regions, a wildfire can double in size every ten minutes. Once that happens, control becomes increasingly difficult with every passing minute, and the consequences for forests, farmland, and communities can be severe.

Early detection remains the most powerful tool available. When smoke or flame is identified quickly, response teams can act before the situation escalates. When detection comes too late, the fire may already have grown beyond the reach of rapid containment. Across Brazil, where natural and agricultural landscapes stretch across millions of acres, early detection is essential. This is where artificial intelligence is beginning to make a meaningful difference.

What can be done about wildfires?

The destructive force of wildfires is becoming more evident around the world. Longer dry seasons, shifting weather patterns, and human activity can turn a small fire into a large-scale incident quickly. When a fire is detected early, responders often have enough time to intervene. But when detection is delayed, even by a few minutes, the damage can increase rapidly.

The challenge lies in recognizing the very first signs of smoke before the fire spreads beyond the point of easy containment. Vast landscapes, inconsistent visibility, and the limits of human attention make this difficult to achieve with traditional monitoring alone. Modern detection efforts focus on improving the speed and accuracy of spotting early indicators so that teams can act while there is still time to prevent large-scale loss of land and resources.

How do you stop a fire before it becomes wild?

Sintecsys, a commercial agriculture technology company, is responsible for monitoring 8.7 million acres of forest and farmland in Brazil. To manage this vast area, Sintecsys uses 360 degree monitoring cameras mounted on towers throughout the terrain. These cameras work continuously, capturing real-time images reviewed by staff around the clock.

This system has already delivered meaningful results. Detection time has decreased from an average of 40 minutes to under five minutes. This improvement has helped prevent fires from spreading and has reduced the amount of land and vegetation lost each year.

Sample images Sintecsys

Despite this progress, the system faces challenges. Because it is designed to avoid missing any real fire, it often triggers alerts when anything resembles smoke. Fog, dust, cloud shadows, and reflections can all trigger false positives. Each alert must be manually verified before firefighters are contacted. This human review is essential but can slow response during real fire events.

To improve speed and accuracy, Sintecsys needed a system that could support human judgement and reduce unnecessary workload. Artificial intelligence offered a way to strengthen the process.

How can a company apply AI without a large in-house team?

Sintecsys saw the potential of AI but did not have the capacity to build a large internal research team. Many organizations working across wide landscapes face the same challenge. Developing an AI solution from scratch requires time, specialized expertise, and significant resources. you can read about his perspective, and the image processing approaches behind the Omdena solution, in his article “How to Stop Wildfires with Artificial Intelligence”.

To move forward, Sintecsys partnered with Omdena, a global collaborative platform where AI experts come together to solve real-world problems. For this project, Omdena assembled 47 contributors from 22 countries, working closely with Sintecsys’ internal AI group for eight weeks.

Contributors brought skills in computer vision, machine learning, environmental data understanding, and real-world image interpretation. Some contributors connected deeply with the mission because it involved protecting land in their own regions. Others saw it as an opportunity to apply their technical expertise to a socially meaningful challenge. Together, the team built an environment defined by collaboration, practical problem-solving, and shared responsibility for developing a reliable solution.

The team’s achievements and results

Over the course of development, the team built an AI model capable of identifying smoke and flames with strong accuracy. Their work resulted in several key outcomes:

more than 95 percent accuracy in daytime smoke and flame detection
a significant reduction in false positive alerts
faster verification of actual fire events
greater confidence for operators reviewing potential threats

These improvements allowed staff to focus on genuine risks instead of spending excessive time reviewing misleading signals. This directly supported faster and more reliable fire response.

Osmar Bambini summarized the outcome clearly, describing the results as outstanding and highlighting the depth and accuracy achieved during the challenge.

What is next?

The daytime model marks an important milestone, but more work is underway. Sintecsys and Omdena are already exploring a second project dedicated to detecting smoke and flames in nighttime images. Low-light detection is more complex, and this next phase will help build a system that is effective at all hours.

Another planned improvement involves integrating satellite imagery to broaden the range of detection. This can help monitor areas that camera towers do not fully cover.

Sintecsys also aims to explore how AI can identify locations with a higher risk of fire. According to Bambini, more than 90 percent of fires are caused by human activity. With AI, areas showing increased land use or human presence can be highlighted for preventive action.

The partnership between Sintecsys and Omdena will continue as both organizations work to build smarter and more effective wildfire detection systems.

Learn more

You can follow updates on the Sintecsys and Omdena collaboration as more capabilities, such as nighttime detection and satellite integration, are developed. This was Omdena’s second fire-related project, following work with Spacept, a Swedish AI startup focused on preventing fires caused by falling trees near power lines. Read about our work with Swedish AI startup Spacept to prevent fires sparked by falling trees near power lines.

The video sums up the project. You can find it on LinkedIn here.

This article was originally written by Laura Clark Murray and has been enriched for clarity and depth while maintaining all original information.

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FAQs

How does AI help in wildfire detection?

AI analyzes real-time camera images to identify smoke and flame patterns faster and more accurately than manual monitoring. It reduces false positives and helps teams act quickly when a fire begins.

Why is early wildfire detection so important?

A wildfire can double in size within minutes. Early detection gives responders the critical time needed to contain fires before they spread and cause large-scale damage.

What challenges do traditional wildfire monitoring systems face?

Traditional systems often struggle with vast landscapes, environmental noise, and inconsistent visibility. They also generate many false alerts that must be manually verified.

How does the Sintecsys system detect wildfires?

Sintecsys uses 360 degree monitoring cameras placed on towers that capture continuous images. These images are reviewed in real time to identify signs of smoke or fire.

How did Omdena support Sintecsys with AI development?

Omdena brought together 47 data scientists from 22 countries to build an AI model capable of detecting smoke and flames with high accuracy and fewer false positives.

What accuracy level did the AI wildfire detection model achieve?

The model achieved over 95 percent accuracy in identifying smoke and flame in daytime images, significantly reducing unnecessary alerts and improving response times.

What improvements are planned for AI wildfire detection systems?

Future enhancements include nighttime detection models, satellite imagery integration, and AI tools that identify areas at higher risk of fire due to human activity.

Can AI predict where wildfires are most likely to start?

AI can highlight high-risk areas by analyzing human activity patterns, land-use changes, and environmental context, helping teams anticipate and prevent potential fires.