RedEye Apps Unveils Software to Forecast Bushfire Damage Decades in Advance

Revolutionary Bushfire Management platform leverages multiple data sources and climate change-adjusted fire weather projections to predict rate of bushfire spread and intensity, fuel loads and preparedness levels

The platform has already drawn interest from government agencies and asset owners in the Energy, Telecommunications, Mining & Resources spaces, with a number of trials already successfully completed and more underway

Brisbane, Australia – Queensland-founded global digital technology company, RedEye Apps, has unveiled a revolutionary software which can forecast – from decades in advance to as little as a few hours out – where dangerous bushfires are most likely to occur, and how destructive they will be.

Leveraging a combination of satellite technology, data analytics, machine learning and climate change-adjusted fire weather projections, the Bushfire Management Platform promises to enhance bushfire prevention and preparedness for critical asset owners across the world.

RedEye has already seen pre-launch interest in the platform from critical asset owners in Federal and State governments, utility providers, mining companies and National Parks and Wildlife Services across Australia. The Brisbane-based developer has piloted the technology with a number of utilities which are looking at managing asset risk during bushfire season and beyond, and how to best site assets and how to prepare around potential bushfire outbreaks across the life cycle of their assets.

Andrew Sturgess, RedEye's Technical Director of Fire Technology and formerly a 30-year veteran of Queensland’s Fire and Emergency Services, said it is imperative that the private sector step up with innovative solutions to lighten the load on emergency services organisations (ESOs). 

“Through no fault of their own these agencies are perpetually in response mode – whether it’s to a pandemic, an emergency itself, or to the ensuing inquiry – and they simply don’t have the time anymore to undertake any analysis of bushfire risks ahead of time,” he said. “The climate has already changed, and it’s getting worse. Disasters like the 2019/20 bushfires are going to become more common and we need to find ways to prepare for them, on a national, state and local level.”

RedEye’s Bushfire Management Platform enables ESOs and critical asset and infrastructure owners to predict the damage bushfires could cause, which helps them in preparing for the worst and to mitigate against it, according to RedEye CEO and Co-Founder, Wayne Gerard.

“A powerline operator could shut down parts of its network in the event of a fire but keep other parts running; a national park can identify the best time and places to apply prescribed fire,” Gerard said. “But they can’t do this blindly and they need as much information as possible to determine which is the safest path to take. The RedEye Bushfire Management Platform helps these organisations make decisions with the best data and visualisations available.

How it works:

The Bushfire Management Platform draws on a combination of satellite technology, data analytics, machine learning and climate change-adjusted fire weather projections from multiple sources and incorporates them into a single-pane-of-glass platform. The data is then all incorporated onto a map visualisation. Organisations are then able to undertake specific scenarios for their networks or asset regions, including natural parklands and surrounding areas, to determine the level of damage which could be incurred in the event of a bushfire.

The platform can then determine fire behaviour characteristics with remarkable accuracy such as:

• Rate of Spread: this is how fast the fire will move using the most up to date science and climate modelling decades into the future.

• Fire Line Intensity: this is a measurement of how much energy the fire front will release to inform how likely the built and natural assets in the path of the fire will be damaged or destroyed.

• Fuel Moisture Content: this measure is essential to assist with the timing and locations for the application of prescribed fire or hazard reduction burning. Too dry, and the fire may negatively impact biodiversity and ecological assets; too wet, and the fire won’t spread.

• Bushfire Preparedness Level (BPL): This is a gauge of what actions and considerations are required to prepare a given area for various potential bushfire scenarios. Level 1 effectively means monitoring only is required while Level 5 represents catastrophic fire conditions with all hands-on deck.

Gerard said organisations in the telecommunications, mining and resources, energy and defence sectors have shown immediate interest in the software, with several organisations already undertaking trials of the Bushfire Management Platform on specific areas of their network.

“These asset owners are looking at managing risk during bushfire season and beyond, and our platform helps them best determine where to place assets and how to prepare around potential bushfire outbreaks across the life cycle of their assets,” he said. “As bushfires and other natural disasters become more commonplace, organisations need to build and maintain their assets with this risk in mind, but until now did not have the data or the capability to forecast decades in advance what level of risk their assets would face.

“Now, they’re able to best determine their risk for the future and mitigate damage to their assets and surrounding areas more effectively than ever before.”

To find out more visit https://www.redeye.co/solutions/bushfiremanagementplatform

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About RedEye

RedEye is a technology company founded in Australia in 2012. Our vision is to make the world’s critical infrastructure safer, easier and more efficient to operate and maintain. Today RedEye has six offices globally and helps clients manage over $250 Billion in large complex assets and critical infrastructure.

Our Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions including our engineering data management, asset and work management, bushfire risk management and digital twin solutions, and our technology, process optimisation and change management consulting services are purpose-built for asset owners.

RedEye partners with the world’s leading asset owners in utilities, resources, government, defence, healthcare and infrastructure to enable digital transformation in digital engineering, digital twin, asset management, analytics and bushfire risk management by making their asset data more available, usable and valuable.

RedEye’s cloud and mobile based technology platforms integrate with, complement and extend our clients’ existing ERP, EAM, GIS, Safety and other core business systems.

RedEye partners with leading technology companies including Microsoft, IBM, ESRI and AWS. We also partner with global and specialist systems integrators and consulting firms including KPMG to extend our reach and value globally.

RedEye’s team and partners have developed deep domain and subject matter expertise working with numerous asset owners and critical infrastructure operators and are available to share best practice solutions, knowledge and processes.