Sweco Belgium
The status and future of AI in industrial fire protection
In industrial settings, fire safety is of paramount importance, particularly in high-risk sectors such as petrochemicals and new energy. Major industrial and energy companies, as well as emergency services, are at the forefront of implementing new technologies such as AI, drones, and robots to fight fires more effectively and safely. These technologies cannot only provide a faster and better response but also significantly reduce risks for human workers.
Major industrial players continuously seek advanced solutions to ensure the safety of their facilities and intervening personnel. Industrial sites, such as refineries, chemical plants, and hazardous materials storage facilities, are complex and prone to incidents where fire poses a major risk. The approach to fire safety in these environments is multifaceted, involving various methods and technologies. While traditional fire prevention and firefighting methods have proven effective, these approaches are increasingly being supported by modern technologies.
AI will become the eyes and ears of an industrial site. Providing visualization, logging, navigation, training and intervention capabilities to hazardous environments, making them safer for people and the environment, around the clock.
Ralf Bruyninckx, Fire & Emergency
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI can offer valuable support before, during and after an incident.
- Predictive Analytics: AI algorithms can analyse historical data and identify patterns that may indicate a higher risk of fire, allowing for proactive measures to be implemented.
- Real-time Monitoring: AI-powered sensors can monitor temperature, smoke levels, and other environmental factors in real-time, providing immediate alerts if conditions suggest a fire.
- Image and Video Analysis: Computer vision techniques can analyse surveillance footage to detect signs of fire or unsafe behaviours, enhancing situational awareness.
- Risk Assessment: AI can assess and quantify risks based on various factors, helping organizations prioritize safety measures and allocate resources effectively.
- Automated Response Systems: AI can help coordinate automated fire suppression systems and alert emergency services, ensuring a rapid response to incidents.
- Training and Simulation: AI can be used to create realistic training simulations for personnel, improving preparedness and response times during actual incidents.
- Post-Incident Analysis: After a fire incident, AI can analyse data to determine causes and evaluate the effectiveness of the response, aiding in future prevention strategies.
- Incident visualization: before, during and after incidents, AI can provide data models and visualizations of the (potential) incident, further enhancing emergency preparedness and helping incident responders tackle intervention challenges even better, in real time.
Drones
Drones equipped with thermal imaging and gas detection equipment are increasingly deployed to quickly assess fire incidents, especially in hard-to-reach or hazardous areas. They can inspect locations too dangerous for humans and provide rapid decision-making support in emergencies.
These drones can scan large areas in a fraction of the time it would take using conventional methods, providing a clearer and faster assessment of the situation. Combined with AI, drones can not only detect fire outbreaks but also identify dangerous chemicals in the air and assess the risk of explosions.
Robots
Robots play a crucial role in firefighting within industrial settings. They can be deployed to extinguish fires in dangerous areas where it is unsafe for humans to operate. These robots are often equipped with firefighting systems and can work autonomously, providing a faster and safer approach to managing fire incidents.
Combined with AI solutions, robots could take over the decision making process in the very early stage of the incident based on potential scenarios in order to effectively contain and deescalate the incident without putting people at stake near the hot zone.
Several prominent industrial companies have invested heavily in these technological innovations in recent years. Such as the integration of AI-based monitoring platforms in refineries, where sensors and cameras continuously monitor the environment for signs of fire hazards. Or utilising robots to inspect hazardous environments and combat fires in chemical plants, minimizing the need for human intervention.
The methodology of industrial firefighting is undergoing a transformation through these innovations. The integration of AI, drones, and robots provides a holistic approach where detection, analysis, and firefighting happen more quickly and effectively.
A significant amount of industry professionals (47%) are currently not leveraging AI in their daily work and express scepticism about its benefits. This is higher than in other markets. As an expert consultant company, we have the task to guide our clients and look at the ethical aspects of this new technology.
The future of Industrial Fire Safety & Emergency management
The future lies in the further integration of AI and autonomous systems. As these technologies continue to evolve, AI-powered predictive analytics will become more refined, potentially predicting fire and human risks in real time. Another exciting development is the application of AI for scenario simulations. This technology can be used to simulate and analyse fire incidents, enabling companies to be better prepared for emergencies. It allows them to continuously optimize and improve their fire safety strategies and helps to train emergency services for better incident intervention, without having to expose people to hazardous environments or situations.
We can also expect an increase in the use of collaborative robots (cobots), which will work alongside human firefighters to perform tasks that are too complex or dangerous for humans alone. As AI technology will progress, these cobots will become ever more autonomous.
Additionally, drones are likely to play an even more prominent role. Already used for observation and overview, in the future, drones could be equipped with firefighting systems, allowing them not only to detect fires but also to extinguish them effectively. This would make them particularly useful in high-risk or hard-to-reach environments.
A new mindset
The future of industrial fire safety will undoubtedly revolve around further automation and the expansion of AI-driven systems.
This will however require a different, non-conventional mindset and approach from both designers and authorities when it comes to e.g. fire water supply systems, as autonomous mobile systems are being deployed. Also a regulatory framework on different levels will be necessary to prevent overambitious applications that have not been tested rigorously.
Curious how AI and autonomous systems can improve the fire safety of your industrial locations?
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