The city of Irvine is partnering with a firm providing AI wildfire detection services that was founded by a teenager.
SensoRy AI was founded by Ryan Honary while he was still in high school. The project he spearheaded detects wildfire ignitions in their earliest stages by deploying a network of ultra-early wildfire-detection and risk assessment sensors throughout the Irvine Open Space Preserve, Irvine officials said in a press release.
The release explained that Irvine has already worked with SensoRy AI and the Orange County Fire Authority to install several test sensors last year. They proved to be “highly effective at detecting wildfire ignitions and providing data on fire risk,” with one recent deployment detecting and reporting an ignition from more than a mile away before it was identified by residents or any cameras.
“The project aims to provide fire departments and emergency agencies with the earliest possible notice of an ignition, especially during Santa Ana winds, giving them the best chance to extinguish the fire before it grows,” the city says, adding that last year’s test deployment went “better than anticipated.”
Installation of the “large-scale network of sensors” is made possible by funding from the California Department of Conservation’s Regional Forest and Fire Capacity (RFFC) Program as well as the city of Irvine and its long-time nonprofit land management partner, the Irvine Ranch Conservancy (IRC).
They are set to begin that process in early 2027.
“Protecting Irvine’s open spaces from wildfire also helps protect the neighborhoods that border them,” Irvine Mayor Larry Agran said in the city’s press release. “This sensor network will give public safety personnel critical information when every second matters. It is a promising use of technology to strengthen public safety while protecting the open spaces our community has worked so hard to preserve.”
Officials – and Honary himself – provided more details on how the whole operation actually works. The press release states that the AI technology includes a wireless mesh sensor network that uses proprietary analysis techniques to detect wildfires at the earliest possible moment. The devices are designed to complement and go beyond existing AlertCalifornia wildfire cameras by filling viewshed gaps and using technologies that differ from those of regular cameras.
“It continuously measures critical environmental conditions, which greatly improves risk assessment and fire prevention, while providing firefighters with instant notifications and real-time updates to help predict a fire’s growth speed and direction,” officials explained. “Designed to be low-cost, easily deployable and scalable, the network requires no existing infrastructure and can be installed in high-risk and remote areas.”
Honary, via the press release, described the partnership as a “large-scale deployment” that marks a “very exciting milestone” for him and the project, which he started as a personal mission to protect lives, property and ecosystems from the devastating effects of wildfires.
“Since the deployment of the first-generation sensors last year, we have been able to make the hardware smaller and more efficient and train our AI models to be more accurate with large amounts of data that we have been collecting,” he said. “We are thankful to the City of Irvine for their continued vision and trust.”
He told KTLA’s Orange County Bureau Chief Chip Yost on Tuesday that the endeavor is his first paid project.
“It’s definitely really exciting,” he said. “We’ve done deployments before but they were all pilot deployments…so this being our first paid project is exciting.”
Ryan Honary with his SensoRy AI wildfire detection device that he invented while in high school. (KTLA)
Come the fall, Honary will be a student at Stanford University on a Wildfire Fellowship, but don’t worry; Irvine city officials say he will “remain directly involved in the work of SensoRy AI.”
In the future, SensoRy AI and the Irvine Ranch Conservancy want to expand the network of sensors to other open spaces of central Orange County, including areas surrounding Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, and Crystal Cove State Park.
“We have supported Ryan and SensoRy AI since the very beginning because we recognized both the potential of the technology and this outstanding young man,” said Michael O’Connell, President & CEO of IRC.
