By Sriram U. (9G) July 2024
My Experience Designing and Constructing a Fire Mitigation Device to Suppress Wildfires
Do you know that California is seeing a significant increase in wildfires in the last 2 decades? The 2009 – 2018 decade saw 1.4 times more fires than the average of the previous three decades. In the same decade, the total area burned was 1.6 times larger than the average since 1979. Also, the fire season has become longer, with fires starting earlier in the year and lasting much longer.
Wildfires
Have you ever experienced a wildfire? I did. One of my most recent memories is of the ash-covered cars in the Bay Area due to the SCU and CZU Lightning Complex Fires in 2020. It was one of the largest wildfires recorded in California’s modern history. A few years prior to this, I also saw the charred mountains in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties after the Thomas Fire in 2017. There is no doubt that earthquakes pose a significant threat to California and can cause concentrated devastation in a single event. However, the seasonal occurrence of wildfires poses a recurring, almost certain, and a more widespread damage to life, economy, and climate. Wildfires are like death by a thousand cuts. And, unlike earthquakes, wildfires can be mitigated to a certain extent.
Inspire
This inspired my friend Srinikash V. and I to build a wildfire mitigation device to suppress wildfires during their early stage – nip them in the bud. We designed and constructed the device (prototype), and demonstrated it as part of the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship in March 2024.
Project
The project provided us with an opportunity to apply our coding, engineering, design skills to build and test the prototype. Our device, positioned on trees in fire-prone areas, would automatically deploy water upon detecting high levels of carbon dioxide. We also connected our device through WiFi to allow for a manual deployment of water if necessary to proactively prevent a potential spread of fires. Our main principle for this device is automated early detection and suppression of fire before they grow and become uncontrollable. It is important to note that our goal was not to avoid professional help from firefighters. We even got their opinion as to what we could improve in our design. The mitigation device would delay and reduce the intensity of the fire (slowing down spreading) while firefighters find their way to the site.
Prototype
For the first iteration of the prototype, we focused on creating a functional model using inexpensive and basic materials. We primarily wanted a mechanism to detect high levels of CO2 in the air and release water. We used an MQ-135 Air Quality Sensor to detect CO2 levels in the air and an Arduino UNO R4 with WiFi chipset as the microcontroller. We ran our tests under a Ponderosa pine tree, with utmost precaution. We chose the Ponderosas as they are common on the West Coast with California leading all the other states in their concentration. Ponderosas are also highly flammable which makes them the perfect test candidate. Ofcourse, the fire we simulated was completely controlled to avoid any mishaps. We kept fire extinguishers and plenty of water handy, just in case. Once we got a working V1 model, we put more effort into making the device durable, increased the water storage capacity, and a restraint mechanism to attach the device to a tree.
Favorite
One of my favorite experiences of this project was our visit to the local fire stations. Feedback plays a critical role in the success of any project. You need to gather 360-degree feedback – from your stakeholders, partners, and users – at every stage of the project. Who better to provide feedback on the efficacy of a fire mitigation than firefighters!? We toured multiple fire stations in our area to discuss the project idea and gather their inputs on the design. We’ve also heard a couple of cool (no pun intended) stories from them on their on-the-ground (or should I say in-the-wild) experiences.
