FireSentinel–AI-Powered Wildfire Mapping & Early Alerts

Inspiration

The devastating 2024 wildfire season in Botswana ignited our mission. We witnessed thousands of hectares of savannah consumed by flames, wildlife displaced, and communities evacuated with minimal warning. The tragic reality hit us: current systems only detect fires after they've grown large and deadly. Southern Africa's vast grasslands needed a paradigm shift—from reactive detection to predictive prevention. We were inspired to build a system that could save lives and ecosystems by forecasting fires before the first spark.

What it does

FireSentinel is a predictive wildfire intelligence platform that thinks ahead of the flames. It continuously analyzes satellite imagery, vegetation health, weather patterns, and terrain data to generate dynamic fire risk maps across Botswana and Southern Africa. The system calculates 7-day fire risk forecasts, predicts fire spread directions based on wind and fuel load, and recommends optimal firebreak locations. When danger is detected, Gemini transforms complex geospatial data into clear, human-readable alerts sent to authorities and communities. Users access everything through an interactive dashboard powered by Google Maps, turning raw data into actionable safety intelligence.

How we built it

We intend to engineere FireSentinel as a cloud-native prediction pipeline leveraging Google's AI and geospatial ecosystem. Google Earth Engine ingests real-time satellite data (MODIS, Sentinel-2) to calculate NDVI indices that reveal vegetation dryness—the fuel for future fires. We feed this alongside local weather data into custom machine learning models deployed on Vertex AI, which predict fire risk zones and simulate spread patterns. BigQuery GIS handles complex spatial analysis to optimize firebreak placements. Gemini acts as our intelligent communication layer, converting technical predictions into natural language alerts. The frontend combines React with Google Maps API for real-time visualization, while Firebase manages data synchronization and push notifications through Cloud Messaging.

What's next for FireSentinel–AI-Powered Wildfire Mapping & Early Alerts

Our roadmap centers on impact expansion and intelligence refinement. Immediate priorities include partnering with Botswana's Department of Forestry & Range Resources to integrate FireSentinel into official early warning systems and conducting field validation with local fire management teams. We're enhancing our models with additional data sources—soil moisture sensors, historical burn patterns, and human activity indicators—to improve prediction accuracy. Regional expansion across Southern Africa (Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe) is planned, with localized model retraining for each ecosystem. We're developing a mobile-first app for offline alert access in areas with limited connectivity, ensuring rural communities aren't left behind. Long-term, we envision transforming FireSentinel into a multi-hazard monitoring platform that predicts droughts and floods using the same geospatial intelligence framework. The ultimate goal: making predictive environmental protection accessible across Africa, turning AI from a buzzword into a genuine tool for climate resilience and community safety

Built With

• nextjs