Summary

Greetings!  We're here to show you our research for you to affordably get a near real-time warning of a wildfire in your area, or any area for that matter.  There's no doubt that the technology we're showing you is better than or equal to what's out there right now for immediately alerting neighborhoods, whole cities, fire fighters, and forest management professionals of a wildfire in near real-time, and thus almost certainly providing a better chance at saving lives, property, forests and grasslands.  The difference is, our system is inexpensive and can be deployed by anyone.  You could even cover all of Tongass National Forest, or as small as your city park, local forest, or prairie for a fraction of what those big systems cost.  Consider it a back-up to what's out there, or just another layer of security. 

If you've ever lost everything you own to a fire, except literally the shirt on your back, as I and my family have, you know that you're thankful to be alive, but you feel the agony of remembering what you lost and cherished so much--your family pictures, the toys of your children, the house you and your spouse worked so hard to get, perhaps even your pet, and so on.  You wouldn't wish such a horrible fate on anyone, and in fact, just the opposite: you'd want to wish for them an early warning before a wildfire destroyed everything.

What we are asking for here is your help in continuing our efforts to develop this affordable wildfire detection technology--an inexpensive sensor that can be deployed in forests or grasslands.  Our current research has developed sensors which communicate with their neighbor sensors via radio signal in one big mesh network, with the data from all sensors going to a central Coordinator which sends data back via WiFi or cell phone SIM to a Web site and to YOU if a wildfire is near you.  Our plans are to extend the range of the sensors (currently 0.5 to 1.0 miles, or more, depending on terrain), finish development of the solar-powered Controller, develop satellite capabilities for even the deepest forests or jungles that are nowhere near cell phones or the Internet (e.g., the deep jungles of Borneo), continue development of infrared and sound detection, development of the database and graphing capabilities, neural network, machine learning, and other artificial intelligence techniques, as well as many other capabilities that will make Wildfire Watch the most comprehensive little, affordable wildfire detection system in the world.

Data recorded through time will develop trends and show when your area begins heating up sooner than expected and can allow you to prioritize and allocate resources to areas you think are more prone to the ignition and spread of a wildfire.

With Wildfire Watch sensors, you don't have to wait to hear about it from the evening news, a neighbor banging on your door, or God forbid, the horrible sound of a fire approaching your house.  The alert goes directly to our Web site, but also to your phone as a text, an email address, or even to your Apple Watch or Fitbit.

The colored icons are shown here on an example Real-Time Map page, which depicts an illustration of how a real fire in the eastern Everglades might look, with the user clicking on one of the red icons:

The data read-out shows that sensor #2006, detected a wildfire or 45.5 degrees Centigrade on December 12, 2018 at 7:08:52pm local time, or 12:08:52am GMT.  Again, this was not a real fire, but our sensors have been deployed in test situations and do in fact report exactly as shown in the automated texts and on our online map.

Our mesh sensor network works, but we need that extra push to manufacture more sensors, develop the back-end database to depict real-time graphs of the progress of temperatures, and add our next exciting line of communication:  satellite transmission from anywhere on the globe.

What We Need and What you Get

We have developed and tested our wildfire sensor prototype in the real world--in Colorado and in Florida.  It works!  What we need, though, is funding to continue the manufacturing of the thousands of these sensors that we know can help save lives and property, and to make sure we have the legal groundwork necessary to go to market.  We have the necessary patent applied for (Application Number 62698112), but we need to finalize that application with the Patent and Trademark Office by July, 2019; and we need to have an attorney provide proper disclaimers and other proper documents for our new S Corporation, Wildfire Watch, Inc. (EIN 83-0721334).  What's required:

$8,000 for legal fees

$12,000 to begin manufacturing hundreds to thousands of the sensors

If we don't reach our goal of $20,000, we will still press forward and deliver on our perks, as promised, anyway--it will just take longer.

If we are so fortunate as to gain more than we are requesting, those funds will go to building more sensors and more advertising and thus saving more people, property, forests and grasslands. 

The Impact

Every sensor our contributors and users deploy helps to provide yet another early warning sentinel of a wildfire.  It may be a back-up to already existing wildfire monitoring technology, or a stand-alone wildfire monitoring network.  Maybe you don't have a spare $50K or $1M to deploy systems that are already out there.

The more fires that are detected and extinguished, the more people, property, forests and grasslands are saved.  Even if a system is in place where you live, Wildfire Watch adds a level of warning and security in quicker time than you may already have.  Talk to your City Council and see what they think!

A benefit you may not have thought of is also accrued:  the reduction of greenhouse gases that warm our planet, and which, in a vicious circle, make wildfires even more likely to start.  Not only are you helping to stop wildfires, you are also helping to reduce climate change!  Have you ever felt totally powerless to do anything about climate change?  That no longer is the case!  With every Wildfire Watch sensor you purchase, you are helping to reverse climate change.

Our goal is to provide you the earliest possible indication of a wildfire, so that your neighborhood can be protected as soon as possible.  Even if there are other detection methods available or currently operating, a Wildfire Watch Network in your neighborhood adds one more level of early warning and protection.

Risks and Challenges

We are a small group with advisors--scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs--who have studied environmental monitoring for many years, and who in one case has had experience with deploying many sensors in the field.  We know our stuff, and we guarantee you these sensors will work as deployed according to instructions.  However, there is no guarantee these sensors can save your life or your property; rather, they offer an added layer of security and early warning to an oncoming wildfire.

Although we can not make a guarantee of saving lives and property, we can certainly guarantee that our sensor technology works, and we have put two years into the development of this technology to reach those goals.

Other Ways You Can Help

Maybe you can't contribute, but that doesn't mean you can't help:

Visit our Facebook Page and tell them about our campaign! 

Tweet our campaign!  You can tweet to us at @wildfire_watch and tell others on Twitter.

Send folks in threatened areas to our Indiegogo Campaign site and to our home page at wildfirewatch.com. 

Remember to use the Indiegogo share tools!