Jupiter receives grant from the Moore Foundation to accelerate California fire control efforts
Jupiter, a provider of predictive data and analytics for climate risk and resilience, today announced that it has received a $1M grant from the Moore Foundation to accelerate deployment of Jupiter’s FireScore™ Operations service, a wildfire threat and intelligence platform, and make it available for public safety entities throughout California to accelerate readiness for the 2020 wildfire season.
Jupiter’s FireScore Operations is the world’s most advanced platform for decision-support in wildfire management, seamlessly integrating real-time and forecast weather, fire spread modeling and satellite observations to allow emergency managers to preposition firefighting resources, monitor new ignitions and predict wildfire spread.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, whose mission is to foster path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area, awarded the grant in order to provide Jupiter’s FireScore Operations to firefighters, emergency services and other public sector entities by June 1, 2020.
“Making FireScore Operations available for California in time for the 2020 fire season is going to save lives and property,” said Rich Sorkin, CEO of Jupiter. “By increasing lead time for emergency management, FireScore Operations will help optimize evacuation planning, utility de-energization and prepositioning of resources, enabling emergency managers to suppress fires in their early stages and protect public safety and property. We expect all major utilities in fire prone areas worldwide will use this service.”
Wildfires in California caused billions of dollars in property and economic loss in 2019, and recent severe wind events have led to preemptive power cuts to large parts of the state that were subject to elevated fire risk. Jupiter’s FireScore Operations will allow for advanced understanding of severe wind events and fire conditions, allowing emergency planners to minimize the negative impacts of preemptive de-energization.
“Climate change is making wildfires in California more frequent and more severe, which is why emergency management officials need to have every available tool at their disposal,” said Dr. Craig Smith, fire scientist at Jupiter. “FireScore will enhance situational awareness and optimize strategic planning and resources for California in 2020, and we’re excited to get this essential capability into the right hands as soon as possible.”
