Wildfire hackathon turns a personal escape into AI prototypes

A Santa Fe AI hackathon inspired by a survivor’s escape from the 2018 Paradise fire brought wildfire experts, developers and community members together on Oct. 27 during the first New Mexico Tech Week. The event produced three early-stage prototypes aimed at improving wildfire detection, preparedness and response.

Why it matters: - Wildfire decisions often happen with too little information, and the event was built around closing that gap for families, first responders and communities. - The prototypes focused on earlier detection, fewer false alarms and better home preparedness, all of which could improve safety if they mature into deployable tools. - The hackathon also linked wildfire resilience to local economic development, including biomass markets and rural jobs.

What happened: - Ember to Aftermath was held Oct. 27 at the New Mexico Innovation Hub in Santa Fe during the inaugural New Mexico Tech Week. - RealmIQ organized the AI hackathon around wildfire response, bringing together professionals, entrepreneurs, developers and community members. - Curt Doty said the event was inspired by his mother’s escape from the Paradise, California fire, when she chose to drive toward the mountains and survived. - Doty created the effort with longtime colleague Jeff Boortz, who sponsored the concept, wildfire focus and framework. - The program included expert presentations, discussion, a development sprint and demonstrations.

The details: - Speakers included New Mexico State Forester Laura McCarthy; William A. Foster IV, Forest Markets Manager for the state Forestry Division; Van Leimer, Wildland Division Chief of the Los Alamos Fire Department; Stephen Guerin, founder of Simtable; and David Perez, founder and CEO of the New Mexico Innovation Hub. - McCarthy discussed ecological challenges, recovery and Indigenous land-management practices. - Leimer addressed response obstacles and preparedness. - Guerin described community-controlled information sharing through a “digital acequia.” - Foster described biomass markets tied to forest restoration, rural jobs, landowner income and locally produced materials and energy. - McCarthy said the format sparked new ideas and was “a good model to catalyze innovation.” - Fire Sentry, presented by Dominic Siegele, used a ground-sensor network to measure smoke particles, gases and environmental conditions. - Fire Sentry proposed cellular communications with satellite backup, and the working prototype recorded rising particle readings near active fires. - Fire Sentry was developed with Claude’s assistance and is intended to complement cameras and satellites. - FireSpread, presented by Holly Grimm, used a second camera angle to corroborate smoke detections and reduce false alarms. - FireSpread kept neighborhood video processing local to limit transmission of footage. - The FireSpread demo combined scripted detection alerts with a forecast using historical Hermits Peak data. - Ember Ready, presented by Carlos Alvarez and his team, combined aerial imagery, homeowner photos, AI analysis and a preparedness checklist in a mobile-friendly app. - Ember Ready flagged vulnerabilities such as combustible fencing and vegetation near structures. - Ember Ready was developed with ChatGPT assistance. - All three winning teams said their projects still need more development before operational use.

Between the lines: - The event paired wildfire expertise with AI development, suggesting organizers want human judgment to guide automation rather than replace it. - Boortz framed AI as a tool for expanding invention while stressing skepticism, judgment and shared economic benefits. - The hackathon pointed to a practical use case for AI in disaster resilience, where speed, local context and trustworthy information matter. - The personal origin story gave the event emotional weight and a clear mission: turn hard-earned survival lessons into better tools for others.

What's next: - Fire Sentry still needs field deployment, hardware testing, false-alarm reduction and predictive modeling. - FireSpread still needs integration of its detection and forecasting features, plus performance validation. - Ember Ready still needs completed scoring, action plans, privacy protections and expert validation. - Organizers and participants appear positioned to keep developing the concepts beyond the hackathon stage.

The bottom line: - Ember to Aftermath turned a family’s wildfire escape into a working session on AI tools that could one day help other communities make faster, safer decisions. - The event also underscored New Mexico’s push to connect innovation, wildfire resilience and local economic benefit.

Collaboration With Community Purpose: - Organizers thanked the New Mexico Innovation Hub for hosting, including David Perez, Kelly Stanhope, the Hub community, the New Mexico Consortium and participating tenants. - Perez said the Innovation Hub is designed to support events like Ember to Aftermath and that the project shows innovators in New Mexico making a positive impact on the broader community. - Organizers also thanked New Mexico Tech Week for including the hackathon in its inaugural program, with special appreciation to Vicki Apodaca and Paul Zelizer. - Judges included Doty, Boortz, Amy McCawley, Carl Mclendon and an AI judge. - The Human AI Innovation Commons, described in the release, is a Georgia nonprofit focused on shared benefits from human-AI invention, with tools including Brainstorm, Patent Forge, Per Se and Figura. - The nonprofit’s charter divides net licensing revenue among human inventors and contributors, UBI and workforce-transition programs, and an AI Trust Fund for third-party AI safety research. - Contact: Curt Doty, RealmIQ, +1 310-994-7810. - More information is available on RealmIQ’s LinkedIn showcase page.