VIDEO: Florida State University researchers say forest fires and hurricanes may be more closely linked than previously thought. The researchers say itโs all about whatโs on the ground. When there hasnโt been a hurricane, the fuel the fire needs is much different than when a big storm just rolled through, knocking everything down.
Yushun Dong, an assistant professor of computer science at FSU, said forest fires can spread much more quickly after a hurricane as the โfuel loadโ is much different. FSU received a more than $2 million grant to be spent over 4 years studying the key relationship between hurricanes and forest fires.
The first order of business will be developing an AI model that can predict how a storm will impact that fuel load, hopefully translating to real-life use for our firefighters.
โThe night hurricane of Helene came, I was driving on a highway, and there was a tree just falling down. It was so dangerous. It was so horrible. So that sparked me to think about, well, how the hurricane would change the ecosystem of Florida,” Dong said.
In total, FSU will receive $2.3 million. While the grant runs for four years, the team hopes to have an initial AI model up and running within the next few months. The professor said that while they do know that hurricanes impact the fuel load, he says itโs really an understudied area that could have an impact on our national and state forests.
