In the western US, dry winds quickly make for extreme fire danger. In these conditions, any ignition source can become a one-acre fire in under an hour. And if the fire is not attacked by this point, there’s little chance that it’ll be stopped until there’s a major break in the weather.

A system of Fire Scout X3 sensors distributed throughout the fire district can alert firefighters when a fire starts, so crews can be on scene while the fire is still stoppable. Since the X3 also detects power line arcing, which often ignites wildfires in high winds, it can even alert firefighters to incipient wildfires in these extreme conditions so crews can be standing by when the fire starts. This greatly improves firefighter safety, because otherwise downed power lines can quickly be obscured by smoke. Undetected high voltage turns the firefighter’s primary weapon – water – against him. Infrared wildfire detection systems are totally unable to detect power line arcing, so they can put firefighters at risk when a downed power line starts a fire.

Fire Scout X3s have been approved for 90/10 Public Safety Grants by FEMA, so by writing a grant request,  a fire district or homeowners association can actually get FEMA to cover 90% of the cost of a district-wide system.