Environment

A new approach to fighting wildfires combines local knowledge and AI

Potential operational delineations, or PODs, are helping U.S. land managers

A photograph of a male firefigther with a hose works at a back burn during the Fairview Fire in Southern California in September 2022

A firefighter works at the site of a controlled burn during the 2022 Fairview Fire in Southern California.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

By Nikk Ogasa

On June 4, 2021, amid flowering saguaros and prickly pear cacti, a wildfire bloomed in the Sonoran Desert in central Arizona. Its nascent flames gorged on nonnative grasses desiccated by a long, severe drought, and the fire was further nourished by the weather. A nearby weather station recorded a temperature of 36° Celsius (97° Fahrenheit).