Latest news with #Honary
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Teen develops and deploys game-changing wildfire sensor with California officials as the state endures more wildfires: 'Early detection is one of our greatest weapons'
Ryan Honary, a 17-year-old from Newport Harbor High School in California, recently deployed his revolutionary wildfire sensor powered by artificial intelligence, SensoRy AI, which he developed to detect fires before they spread uncontrollably. As explained, he thought of the idea after a devastating wildfire broke out near his family's home in 2018. After the harrowing ordeal, Honary began brainstorming solutions, and a light bulb went off when he remembered a heat detector he'd created for a fifth-grade school project. Using that as the blueprint, he mapped out a plan for a wildfire detection system and built the first prototype, which was equipped with infrared sensors, a wireless sensor network, machine learning, AI, and a camera to identify smoke. Honary was selected as a finalist in The Earth Prize 2024, the world's largest environmental competition for teenage students. The Earth Prize stated that SensoRy AI acts as "a mini-meteorological station" to detect wildfires and other natural disasters, including landslides and oil spills. When the sensors identify a threat, they trigger alarms that notify emergency services and nearby residents who might be impacted, even in rural areas that lack communication networks. reported that the device can "detect fires as small as a square foot," making it ideal for use in California, where small sparks can often erupt into massive fires that destroy entire communities — such as what happened in the heartbreaking Palisades Fire. Honary's unique wildfire detection system caught the eye of the Orange County Fire Authority, which deployed the device in Irvine last month. SensoRy AI will be installed in phases, the first of which focuses on high-risk burn areas in the 40,000-acre Irvine Open Space Preserve, a vital wilderness area in the city. OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy told "Early detection is one of our greatest weapons in what has become a year-round fire season, empowering crews to more safely and effectively execute the robust and rapid initial attack required to keep wildfires small." As the planet continues to warm, large wildfires are becoming more frequent and harder to contain, especially in places like California, where warm, dry summers create the ideal fuel for wildfires to spark. Should the government be able to control how we heat our homes? Definitely Only if it saves money I'm not sure No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. However, innovative solutions like Honary's will help safeguard communities and the planet from the threats of our changing climate. Since SensoRy AI isn't expensive to develop, it can be easily scaled to deploy in other locations worldwide. The system will be stationed just around Irvine for now, but Honary has big plans for the future. According to SensoRy AI's website, the early detection tech can be utilized for various applications, including measuring air quality and detecting sparks on utility infrastructure. The sky is the limit for SensoRy AI, and it's exciting to think about how the technology will progress moving forward. Honary has proved that anyone can take local climate action, and you don't always need a plan to get started. "The applications of this technology are limitless and will work to help prevent disasters, reduce production and maintenance costs, and save lives," SensoRy AI said. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Los Angeles Times
19-02-2025
- Science
- Los Angeles Times
‘Wildfires are kind of like cancer': Laguna Canyon is test site for O.C. teen's system to detect small blazes
Good morning. It's Wednesday, Feb. 19. I'm Carol Cormaci, bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events. Since 2018, when Ryan Honary of Newport Beach entered a fifth-grade science project in hopes of demonstrating how early warning systems might prevent wildfire tragedies, he has been transforming a temperature sensor on a circuit board he designed for that project into a system that could greatly help the Orange County Fire Authority and other agencies in our state and beyond. Over the years, the Daily Pilot has followed the impressive accomplishments racked up by Honary, who had the idea to use a network of sensors with wireless mesh networking designed to operate in remote and fragile environments. His efforts garnered the attention of the O.C. Fire Authority and the grant-funding support of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy. One of the photos we have on file of him was taken when he was 13. In it, he holds a presentation check representing the funds he won in 2019 in the Ignite Student Challenge, nearly $2 million. In 2021, with that funding in hand, the seventh-grade student at the Pegasus School helped launch the startup Sensory AI. The goal was to use artificial intelligence to prevent and predict hazards that threaten natural resources, he told us then, and not just wildfires. In January 2023, when Honary was 15 and a freshman at Newport Harbor High School, he went to Paris where he hosted a panel discussion and global showcase on 'The Future of Artificial Intelligence-Driven Environmental Solutions' at the Learning Planet Festival, an event created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Learning Planet Institute. He told the paper he would use his platform there to launch an effort geared toward engaging others in his age group to create solutions for environmental problems. He called it the Climate Solutions Society. We did not want to miss the latest news of this enterprising young man, so last week we caught up with the now 17-year-old when he installed the first of about 30 solar-powered and AI-assisted monitoring stations that will be positioned along Laguna Canyon Road this year. The equipment uses infrared cameras and gas sensors, according to the reporting for the Daily Pilot by my colleague Eric Licas. They can detect a 1-foot patch of flames from up to 1,200 feet away. 'Proprietary artificial intelligence technology trains them to differentiate fires from heat coming from vehicle exhaust, the sun or other benign sources,' Licas reports, and 'network with each other via Wi-Fi to create a constant web of surveillance in remote areas and automatically send alerts to firefighters at the earliest signs of a potential disaster.' Imagine if such a system as Honary has devised had been in place in Orange and Riverside counties when the Airport fire broke out in September and in Los Angeles County where we witnessed mass destruction last month from the fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Multiple thousands of homes might have been saved and there would not still be so very many people left wondering how to pick up the pieces and start all over again. 'Wildfires are kind of like cancer,' Honary told the reporter. 'When you catch them in the earlier stages they're much easier to put out and deal with.' • With their meeting taking place last night, after this newsletter's deadline, I can't report for certain whether or not the MAGA Huntington Beach City Council approved for the city's public library a 50th anniversary plaque that has stirred up a significant amount of controversy. I'm betting the council gave it the green light for installation, but I could be proven wrong. I can say that last week the Huntington Beach Community and Library Services Commission unanimously approved the design, which many believe carries an intentional MAGA signal, with the letters M (for Magical), A (Alluring), G (Galvanizing) and A (Adventurous) at the center of it. • Assemblyman Tri Ta, a Republican representing the 70th Assembly District, is the co-author of a bill, AB 504, that he hopes will end confusion faced by nail salon owners and technicians over a new law that prevents manicurists from being considered independent contractors, as they have been up until now. According to a TimesOC report, nail salon workers are now subject to a test to determine if they are independent contractors or should instead be employees. • A 63-year-old convicted sex offender, Robert Rudy Salinas, was arrested by Garden Grove police Feb. 3 and has been charged with committing lewd acts with a minor, meeting a minor to commit lewd conduct and contacting a minor with intent to commit a specified offense, the L.A. Times reports. Nearly two decades ago, Salinas was captured in a sting on the TV show 'To Catch A Predator' and was arrested by police. He was convicted of attempting to commit lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 and is listed on the Megan's Law website. • Guadalupe Ortiz, a former Orange County sheriff's deputy, was acquitted yesterday of charges that he used excessive force on April 1, 2021, when he poured hot water on the arm of a mentally ill defendant to get him to pull his hands back into his cell in Orange County Jail, City News Service reported. • A man and a woman who were trapped in fast-moving water in San Juan Creek were rescued by Orange County Fire Authority firefighters after they received notification that help was needed at 1:42 a.m. Friday. City News Service reported responders searched from the land, in boats, on bridges and from helicopters with swiftwater rescue crews prepositioned during the rain event until the two were extracted. • Angels star Mike Trout, who has been plagued with injuries in recent seasons, is moving from center to right field in hopes of better preserving his health. After considering such a switch, the three time AL MVP approached management with the plan. 'I came to the conclusion that I'm going to go to right field,' he told the Associated Press. 'I'll try it out and see where it goes.' • A 6-year-old mare named Kimberly's Devil was euthanized Saturday night after she collapsed while being loaded into the gate for the third race at Los Alamitos, according to a City News Service report. • The nonprofit Families Forward launched its Community Market in Irvine last Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, an event documented in this Daily Pilot feature. The concept is to offer foods to the clients the organization serves in a setting that gives them the feel and experience of being in a welcoming store such as a Trader Joe's market. • Five community organizations recently kicked off the Orange County Asian American Cancer Partnership, which forged with CalOptima to train patient navigators to educate the Asian American community about cancer prevention. Participating groups include Korean Community Services, Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance, Southland Integrated Services, the Cambodian Family and the Vital Access Care Foundation, which is also known as the Vietnamese American Cancer Foundation. 'We expect not only to bridge cancer gaps for the 35,000 folks we already serve, but to expand cancer care access to upwards of 10,000 medical patients across diverse linguistic, cultural and geographic communities,' said Ellen Ahn, chief executive of Korean Community Services. • 'Echoes of Conflict: Remembering Vietnam' opened Saturday at the O.C. fairgrounds Heroes Hall veterans museum. The exhibit gives visitors a comprehensive look at the controversial war through artifacts, immersive experiences and the voices of the men and women who served there as members of the armed forces. • '1968: A Folsom Redemption and Beyond Confinement,' a photography exhibit centering on country singer Johnny Cash's famed performance at the maximum security prison, is on view at the Fullerton Museum Center now through March 9. The center is located at 301 N. Pomona Ave. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids ages 5 to 18. • Leapin' lizards! The hit Broadway musical 'Annie' opened last night at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and will continue through Sunday. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.; tickets, which start at $44.07, can be purchased here. Until next Wednesday,Carol I appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to
CBS News
11-02-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Orange County teen's invention provides look at the future of firefighting
An Orange County teenager's lifelong passion could change the future of firefighting, with his recent invention becoming the latest tool adopted by local fire departments to help stop wildfires before they grow out of control. Ryan Honary, a Newport Beach high schooler and founder of SensoRy AI, officially partnered with the city of Irvine and the Orange County Fire Authority to deploy his artificial intelligence-driven wildfire detection system in the Irvine Open Space Preserve on Monday, a 40,000 acre swath of land that connects to the Cleveland National Forest. "I'm actually very excited because this is our very first deployment," Honary said. "The whole idea of my platform is to be able to detect the fire when it is smaller than one foot by one foot. The idea is that by the time the firefighters are there to put it out, a human shouldn't have even been able to see it from their house." The invention combines AI, machinery and a wireless mesh sensor network to detect a fire in its earliest stages. It aims to immediately alert firefighters with instant notifications and constant real-time updates on the potential growth, speed and direction it's burning. "So, it would take a picture of that fire, it would detect it from its infrared and maybe smoke as well and then it would instantly send that information as an email text or push notification to the Orange County Fire Authority's phones," Honary said. He put his work to the test in Irvine's Qual Hill open space, close to where the 1993 Laguna Fire sparked. He's been working on it since he was in fifth grade after he watched the devastating blaze destroyed hundreds of homes. Firefighters say it's this type of technology that could be one of their most valuable tools when it comes to preventing the devastation recently seen in Los Angeles County, when the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted. "Early detection is one of our greatest weapons in what has become a year-round fire season, empowering crews to more safely and effectively execute the robust and rapid initial attack required to keep wildfires small," said OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy. Honary has partnered with OCFA for several years now after receiving $250,000 in funding from the Irvine Ranch Conservancy. In the time since, Fennessy has mentored the teen who he is now beyond proud of and grateful for. He says that the technology will better enable them to provide real-time data to crews on scene, including where to allocate their resources. This year alone, California wildfires have already consumed more than 57,000a acres, killed over two dozen people and caused north of $250 billion in economic losses. A new group of Honary's detectors will be deployed along SR-133 heading into Laguna Beach. By the end of the year, OCFA hopes to have 25 detectors installed in their most fire prone areas.
