The UK government will set up a Wildfires AI Unit to help spot and fight fires faster, after the country’s hottest summer on record. Prime Minister Andy Burnham is setting out the plan at England’s first wildfire summit on Friday, The Guardian reported.
The unit will sit inside the National Situation Centre, the government’s crisis hub within the Cobr emergency committee rooms. It will bring together universities, tech firms and officials, according to the government’s plan, which gives no start date or budget for the unit.
Google, Airbus and VodafoneThree are among the companies at the summit. They are expected to discuss how satellite monitoring and early warning systems could help, The Guardian said. Greece already uses AI-powered satellite tech for the same job.
The package also brings in the military. For the first time, RAF Chinook helicopters and A400M transport planes will be fitted to fight wildfires. Fire services can ask for them to be sent to remote moorland and steep hillsides.
Fire services will get up to £45m for specialist wildfire teams and lighter protective kit. Their current gear is built for fires in buildings and is not meant to be worn for long periods outdoors.
More than half of the 29 fire and rescue services that answered a request said they lacked wildfire protective equipment, according to The Guardian.
Burnham said the country’s firefighting “heroes shouldn’t have to fight with one hand tied behind their backs”.
In addition, the government will spend £25m restoring dried-out peatland in England, so it holds more water and acts as a natural firebreak. A grant scheme run by Natural England will cover April 2027 to April 2029, and farmers will get help to fireproof their land.
Ministers will also consider tougher local limits on starting fires when the risk is high, including bans on some products.
The Met Office found that climate change made this summer’s extreme heat about 130 times more likely. In July, a wildfire on Dunwich Heath in Suffolk came within two miles of the Sizewell B nuclear power station, The Guardian reported.
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