Can technology predict wildfires? New systems attempt to better forecast their spread

In this file photo, burnt out wreckage at a property along CA-128 where the LNU Lightning complex fire tore through, photographed on Aug 25, 2020 in Napa, California. — Los Angeles Times/TNS

LOS ANGELES: When freak lightning storms passed over Northern California’s wine country last month and sparked hundreds of wildfires, a newly established network of remote weather stations, orbiting satellites and supercomputers spun into action and attempted to predict the spread of what is now known as the LNU Lightning Complex fire.

Firefighters and technologists have long dreamed of a formula or device that would accurately predict the spread of fire, much the way meteorologists predict the possible impact of extreme weather, but it’s only recently that big data and supercomputers have begun to show promise as a means of fire forecasting.