hot take but i think AI is literally on the verge of solving california’s megafire problem > california already has 1,000+ AI-monitored wildfire cameras that have spotted 900+ fires before the first 911 call > now the first 3 satellites in Google’s FireSat network just reached orbit to catch fires those cameras miss > FireSat is designed to spot fires just 5 x 5 meters, roughly 1/400th the size current wildfire satellites can detect > once complete, the network will scan the planet every 20 minutes > together, cameras below and satellites above are creating a 24/7 early-warning system for finding tiny fires before they can grow into megafires > but the missing piece is getting water there just as fast > in one california test, an autonomous Black Hawk found staged fires, flew to water and filled a 324-gallon bucket > it then calculated its own drop and extinguished it with no human in the loop > NASA is also building the traffic-control system needed to coordinate aircraft like this through darkness and heavy smoke > california already stations 70+ firefighting aircraft around the state, positioned to reach even remote fires within 20 minutes > the goal is to automate that entire chain > so AI finds the fire, launches the aircraft and fully extinguishes it within 10 minutes without waiting for a human > each system is designed to do that across an area larger than SF + oakland + san jose combined > scale that across california and dangerous fires get extinguished before they can become megafires yes... obviously california will always have natural fires and scaling this statewide might take a decade but i'm increasingly convinced the $100B-entire-community-destroying fires will soon be a thing of the past 🤞