Austin became the first city in Texas to fully deploy a new artificial intelligence detection system aimed to spot and notify first responders of smoke and fires, Austin Energy announced Aug. 29.
The new technology, developed by wildfire detection company Pano AI, consists of 26 high-definition cameras at 13 locations throughout the city, which allows the system to cover the entire Austin area, said Chris Vetromile, wildfire division manager at Austin Energy.
The company first developed the system in the West Coast to monitor and locate wildfires, but the new technology in Austin is also being used to locate car and house fires, Vetromile said. The system pinpoints the location of smoke which allows for a quicker response to the fire, according to the Austin Energy announcement.
Kat Williams, director of government business development for Pano AI and a former firefighter, said detecting the fire early helps protect the safety of firefighters.
“I cannot begin to describe how many times I have been dispatched to a fire and been given limited information on where the fire is or what kind of hazards I am walking into,” Williams said in a press conference.
The Pano camera stations scan the landscape and use artificial intelligence to “spot, evaluate and signal wildfire activity within a 15-mile radius,” according to Pano AI’s website. If the system spots a fire, a staff member confirms the fire and sends information to dispatchers and the local fire department, Vetromile said.
The system extends past Travis County into surrounding counties and areas, according to the announcement, with UT and West Campus located in a “multi-coverage” zone. The area is monitored by two or more AI stations 24/7, according to a map provided by Austin Energy.
The Pano AI system has located car fires, house fires and a large fire at a recycling center in Austin in the time since it was launched in March 2024, Austin Energy said. The project has been a collaboration between Austin Energy, the Austin Fire Department and the Texas Public Power Corridor Committee, according to the announcement.
Austin Energy compared the time of confirmation from the AI system to when citizens called the fire department, and they found the system detected and notified officials before the first call was made in many cases, Vetromile said.
“Our hope is that we get the whole central Texas corridor taken care of with the cameras,” Vetromile said. “If it shows to be productive and it shows to be beneficial, then we’re hoping to grow the system around us.”
