Smart Forest Management System; Forest Fires in California: How Climate Change, Corporate Negligence, and Ineffective Governance are Fueling Fires all Across the State

The effects of climate change, corporate negligence, and government incompetence have all led to an increase in forest fire severity in the United States, and new technologies are needed to combat this growing danger. Our capstone project, the Smart Forest Management system, is a sensor network designed to monitor electrical infrastructure for incidences of fire. The goal of this project was to design a technology that could detect fires in forested regions for rapid fire containment procedures. My STS research focused on the many factors, including governance, climate change, and local power companies, that have contributed to the increase in forest fire frequency in California. I undertook this research in order to understand why forest fires in California have become so destructive, and to see what might be done to combat this issue. These two ideas are connected by the concept of the forest fire. A forest fire is a significant natural event that doesn’t have one particular cause, but many contributing factors that can often be difficult to trace. Combating these destructive disasters is a multifaceted problem that will require technological innovation as well as reforms in government and social systems.

The goal of our capstone project was to design a system that could detect fires rapidly in remote areas. The Smart Forest Management system accomplishes this by acting as an interconnected network of fire detection sensors. Each node in the Smart Forest Management system is equipped with an IR sensor and a temperature sensor. Nodes can communicate with other nodes in the vicinity using the LoRa wireless communication protocol. When fire is detected, an alert is broadcast from the node and sent to nearby devices. This alert can be transmitted in a chain pattern down the length of an electrical line until reaching a base station equipped with resources to contact a human operator. This technology allows companies to monitor power infrastructure in areas lacking WiFi or cellular communication.

Our capstone project was completed at the conclusion of the fall semester. Testing revealed that the modules could communicate reliably at distances exceeding 300 meters. The temperature sensor worked as intended and sent alerts after detecting high temperatures. The communication between sensors was robust and incorporated power saving and error checking measures. The battery life was calculated to exceed 1 year, which satisfied our proposal. Future research must be done to improve the range of the IR sensor, which did not reach a range of 100 meters. The Smart Forest Management system was an effective proof of concept and can be further developed to provide useful monitoring of electrical infrastructure.

The research question guiding my STS paper is how governance, climate change, and power companies all contribute to forest fires in California. This question is significant because California forest fires are becoming more frequent and destructive, with the deadliest wildfire in state history occuring in 2018. Understanding why these fires are happening can help protect the people of California. I approached this question using the Actor-Network Theory framework and collected information through literature review, case studies of previous fires, and policy analyses of laws and regulations governing power companies.

The evidence backing my STS paper consists of forest fire severity and climate change data, case studies on PG&E abuse of power, and California policy governing housing developments and wildfire prevention. This information has resulted in a better understanding of how regulations, power, and climate change all impact forest fires. From this evidence, I concluded that policy changes must be made to more effectively punish safety violations from power companies and implement better fire prevention methods. I also concluded that measures must be put in place to stop or reverse climate change to reduce the likelihood of large wildfires from starting. These changes will result in a safer wildfire season in California if implemented.

School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
Technical Advisor: Keith Williams
STS Advisor: Pedro Francisco
Technical Team Members: Quentin Olsen, Nathan Yu, Johnathan Mirkovich, Sean Mahoney