Precisely aiding wildfire fight with risk assessment data

New capabilities

In August 2023, a wildfire swept across the Hawaiian island of Maui, killing over 100 people in Lahaina in the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century and decimating much of the historic town. Currently, nearly 30 wildfires are raging in Oregon and Washington, where over 500,000 people are under a fire danger warning, and many more are burning in many parts of western Canada.

Overall, scientific research shows that the risk of extreme wildfires has doubled over the past 20 years. And to date in 2024, there have already been nearly 20,000 wildfires that have burned two million acres of land.

The current wildfires and most of those to date this year largely affect land that is uninhabited by humans and where few man-made structures exist. However, as the wildfire in Hawaii showed, those that reach urban areas can have catastrophic effects.

One study now shows that the property value exposed to wildfire risk during a typical mortgage period is expected to top $11 billion per year by next year and affect more than 3 million homes.

To combat wildfires, Precisely developed Wildfire Risk using capabilities acquired through its purchase of Anchor Point.

Included in the tool is data that can affect the spread of wildfires such as terrain, slope of land, climate, vegetation, wind patterns, human activity, frequency of past fires, proximity to water and distance to fire stations. Wildfire Risk Extreme adds data about conditions during severe fire weather, looking at some of the same factors such as temperature and humidity to assess risk and enable communities to prepare during the times when fires are most likely to occur.

In particular, the new data aims to help municipalities and other organizations prepare for wildfires that could reach urban areas, according to Dan Adams, Precisely's senior vice president of data enrichment.

"These [added] factors are essential in predicting fast-spreading urban fires, also known as urban conflagrations," he said. "[Wildfire Risk Extreme] delivers actionable information for any location in the U.S. under extreme weather conditions."

That includes San Bernardino County's Morongo Basin, according to Merino.

"Being able to map wildfire risks and historical data and share that with our citizens has increased fire stewardship within the community and decreased the risk of wildfire damage," he said.

In addition to public sector organizations such that can use Wildfire Risk to help keep communities safe, the insurance and telecommunications industries are among those that stand to benefit most from wildfire risk assessment data, according to Precisely.

Telecommunications providers with cell towers, cable lines and phone lines across the landscape can use Wildfire Risk to understand more about the locations of their towers and power lines and which are in high-risk locations. Insurers, meanwhile, can use the data to identify areas where wildfire risk has previously been underestimated to more accurately price policies and prepare for the likelihood of claims.

Precisely acquired Anchor Point and developed Wildfire Risk to provide customers with contextual data to assess wildfire risk, according to Adams.

The vendor added Wildfire Risk Extreme, which was developed in concert with wildfire scientists and other experts in the field, in response to urban fires such as those in Lahaina and Boulder County, Col., and with the understanding that such urban wildfires are becoming more common.

"The team understood that urban conflagrations in particular can represent unique challenges, requiring tailored solutions that go beyond traditional risk analysis and planning," Adams said.

Looking ahead

With Wildfire Risk Extreme now available, Precisely hopes to continue improving Wildfire Risk by providing real-time information, according to Adams. In addition, the vendor is looking at ways to combine Wildfire Risk with other data products in its data enrichment portfolio.

Should Precisely follow through on combining Wildfire Risk with other data products, it could be of benefit to organizations such as the Morongo Basin Fire Safe Council. The Council does not currently use Precisely tools other than Wildfire Risk. However, it is looking into ways it could expand its use of Precisely to back up decisions throughout San Bernardino County.

"We're exploring how the Precisely data enrichment portfolio could help to inform and enrich policymaking across several additional parts of the county," Merino said.

Beyond data products that are largely made up of third-party data, Precisely's primary focus is on data integrity. Toward that end, the vendor's roadmap is focused on adding new APIs to help customers derive value from their own  proprietary data, according to Adams.

"We will offer new APIs for querying our own data portfolio and enriching first-party data to reveal new insights about customer data that enable organizations to make confident decisions based on maximum data context," he said.

Eric Avidon is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial and a journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He covers analytics and data management.