Australian Fire Chief Urges Social Media Giants to Share Data for Wildfire Management
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As LA fights fires, Australian official urges more help from social media platforms
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian head of the world's largest volunteer firefighting force said on Tuesday a refusal by social media firms to give emergency services free access to its data was hindering responders globally, as wildfires continued to rip through Los Angeles. Rob Rogers, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS), said companies including Elon Musk's X and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, could save lives by giving first responders back-end access to data. The RFS runs a network of some 74,000 volunteer firefighters and full-time staff protecting one of the world's most fire-prone regions. Australia suffered a catastrophic series of wildfires in 2019-2020 known as "Black Summer", which destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people, the majority in New South Wales. In response, the RFS commissioned Athena, a software program named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and protector of cities, that uses artificial intelligence to predict where fires might spread. The program could be made more powerful by better integrating it with posts from social media users on wildfires as they started and spread, Rogers said. X and Meta, however, have both been unwilling to provide back-end data to emergency services at no cost, he said. "We've got a lot better tools than we had even in 2019 (and) 2020... but certainly that integration of social media, it remains a challenge for us," he told Reuters in an interview. "They're unwilling to give us the data. Meta and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Social media platforms do provide companies and organisations access to their application programming interfaces (APIs), a system that allows different software applications to exchange data seamlessly, but the fees involved were "well beyond our capacity to do that", Rogers said. "That's something that's probably bigger than just us. I think that's an emergency service issue worldwide," he said, without providing details about the cost of API access. Extremely dry conditions and winds of close to 100 miles per hour (160 kph) had made it almost impossible to contain the fires in Los Angeles, Rogers said. "It's very much like we had with 2019 and 2020 on really bad days, the fire is going to do what the fire is going to do," he said. "All you can do is try and protect things ahead of that fire, but it's going to burn where it's going to burn, and for us to think we have an ability to stop that, we're just fooling ourselves." (Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Jill Gralow in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
[2]
As LA Fights Fires, Australian Official Urges More Help From Social Media Platforms
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian head of the world's largest volunteer firefighting force said on Tuesday a refusal by social media firms to give emergency services free access to its data was hindering responders globally, as wildfires continued to rip through Los Angeles. Rob Rogers, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS), said companies including Elon Musk's X and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, could save lives by giving first responders back-end access to data. The RFS runs a network of some 74,000 volunteer firefighters and full-time staff protecting one of the world's most fire-prone regions. Australia suffered a catastrophic series of wildfires in 2019-2020 known as "Black Summer", which destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people, the majority in New South Wales. In response, the RFS commissioned Athena, a software program named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and protector of cities, that uses artificial intelligence to predict where fires might spread. The program could be made more powerful by better integrating it with posts from social media users on wildfires as they started and spread, Rogers said. X and Meta, however, have both been unwilling to provide back-end data to emergency services at no cost, he said. "We've got a lot better tools than we had even in 2019 (and) 2020... but certainly that integration of social media, it remains a challenge for us," he told Reuters in an interview. "They're unwilling to give us the data. Meta and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Social media platforms do provide companies and organisations access to their application programming interfaces (APIs), a system that allows different software applications to exchange data seamlessly, but the fees involved were "well beyond our capacity to do that", Rogers said. "That's something that's probably bigger than just us. I think that's an emergency service issue worldwide," he said, without providing details about the cost of API access. Extremely dry conditions and winds of close to 100 miles per hour (160 kph) had made it almost impossible to contain the fires in Los Angeles, Rogers said. "It's very much like we had with 2019 and 2020 on really bad days, the fire is going to do what the fire is going to do," he said. "All you can do is try and protect things ahead of that fire, but it's going to burn where it's going to burn, and for us to think we have an ability to stop that, we're just fooling ourselves." (Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Jill Gralow in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
[3]
As LA fights fires, Australian official urges more help from social media platforms
Rob Rogers, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, urged companies like X and Meta to provide first responders access to social media data for better wildfire management. While AI tools like Athena have improved, integrating social media data remains a challenge due to high API costs, hindering emergency services' effectiveness.The Australian head of the world's largest volunteer firefighting force said on Tuesday a refusal by social media firms to give emergency services free access to its data was hindering responders globally, as wildfires continued to rip through Los Angeles. Rob Rogers, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS), said companies including Elon Musk's X and Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram, could save lives by giving first responders back-end access to data. The RFS runs a network of some 74,000 volunteer firefighters and full-time staff protecting one of the world's most fire-prone regions. Australia suffered a catastrophic series of wildfires in 2019-2020 known as "Black Summer", which destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people, the majority in New South Wales. In response, the RFS commissioned Athena, a software program named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and protector of cities, that uses artificial intelligence to predict where fires might spread. The program could be made more powerful by better integrating it with posts from social media users on wildfires as they started and spread, Rogers said. X and Meta, however, have both been unwilling to provide back-end data to emergency services at no cost, he said. "We've got a lot better tools than we had even in 2019 (and) 2020... but certainly that integration of social media, it remains a challenge for us," he told Reuters in an interview. "They're unwilling to give us the data. Meta and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Social media platforms do provide companies and organisations access to their application programming interfaces (APIs), a system that allows different software applications to exchange data seamlessly, but the fees involved were "well beyond our capacity to do that", Rogers said. "That's something that's probably bigger than just us. I think that's an emergency service issue worldwide," he said, without providing details about the cost of API access. Extremely dry conditions and winds of close to 100 miles per hour (160 kph) had made it almost impossible to contain the fires in Los Angeles, Rogers said. "It's very much like we had with 2019 and 2020 on really bad days, the fire is going to do what the fire is going to do," he said. "All you can do is try and protect things ahead of that fire, but it's going to burn where it's going to burn, and for us to think we have an ability to stop that, we're just fooling ourselves."
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Rob Rogers, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, calls on social media companies to provide free access to their data to enhance wildfire prediction and response capabilities.
Australian Fire Chief Calls for Social Media Data Access
Rob Rogers, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS), has urged social media giants to provide emergency services with free access to their data, citing the potential to save lives during wildfire crises. As Los Angeles battles raging fires, Rogers emphasized the global implications of this data access issue for firefighting efforts
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.The Power of Social Media Data in Firefighting
The RFS, which manages a network of 74,000 volunteer firefighters and full-time staff in one of the world's most fire-prone regions, has developed an AI-powered software called Athena. This program, named after the Greek goddess of wisdom, is designed to predict fire spread patterns
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. Rogers believes that integrating social media data into Athena could significantly enhance its predictive capabilities, allowing for more effective wildfire management.Challenges with Social Media Platforms
According to Rogers, major social media companies like Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) and Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) have been unwilling to provide back-end data to emergency services at no cost. While these platforms offer access to their APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), the associated fees are reportedly beyond the capacity of many emergency services
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.Global Implications for Emergency Services
Rogers highlighted that this issue extends beyond Australia, affecting emergency services worldwide. The integration of social media data remains a significant challenge, potentially hindering the effectiveness of response efforts during critical situations like the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires.
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Lessons from Past Disasters
The call for improved data access comes in the wake of Australia's catastrophic "Black Summer" wildfires of 2019-2020, which destroyed an area the size of Turkey and claimed 33 lives. This disaster underscored the need for more advanced firefighting tools and strategies, prompting the development of AI solutions like Athena.
Current Wildfire Situation in Los Angeles
Rogers drew parallels between the current Los Angeles fires and Australia's past experiences, noting that extreme conditions make containment nearly impossible. With winds reaching up to 100 miles per hour (160 kph) and extremely dry conditions, firefighters face significant challenges in controlling the spread of wildfires.
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